Troublesome Fate
by Lone Ronin
Summary: Shikamaru must deal with doubts about himself, a new chuunin team, more dangerous missions and his first relationship, while Konoha struggles to keep an alliance with the Village of Sand and fend off attacks from the Village of Sound. NejiShika
1. It Wasnt Supposed to be Like This

Troublesome Fate

By: Lone Ronin

WARNING: This story takes place between Chapters 235 and 245 of the manga (the anime is slightly different), so there will be really serious spoilers. This story also has (good) NejiShika yaoi and lots of action, humor, angst, blood and gore, so there's something for everyone and the rating will eventually go up. It will also be kind of long, and if you do get hooked, keep in mind that I take my sweet ass time in finishing what I start, just check my author page. I'm doing this because most of the NejiShika/ShikaNeji yaoi out there kind of sucks and I came up with a good story. I honestly believe that it's not only a good pairing, but feasible as well.

Disclaimer: I haven't quit my day job and I didn't profit from this, beyond my own shameless self-aggrandizing. Naruto belongs to Kishimoto-sama and whatever soulless corporation is in charge of marketing and whatnot. This is a recording.

Prologue: It wasn't supposed to be like this

It wasn't supposed to be like this, I thought I had it all figured out. I just wanted to do this ninja thing well enough to get by, get paid enough to get by, get married to a woman who's neither ugly nor beautiful, and have two kids. The first would be a girl and the next would be a boy. I would retire from being a ninja after my daughter got married and my son got a job, then I would go play shogi during the boring days and live free from worldly cares. Then I would die peacefully in my sleep from old age before my wife. That's the kind of life I wanted, but it seems I've gotten myself into something even more troublesome then the fact that I graduated from the academy, passed the chuunin test, and failed my first major mission.

I fell in love with an older, beautiful, mysterious, longhaired…guy.

* * *

It wasn't supposed to be like this, I thought I had it all figured out. It's easier to go through life thinking that people and fate can't be changed, to believe that it's impossible to change your station in life. We all like to think our fate will be like a party at the end of the evening, a grand celebration of what was, is and might be in the future, but for me, my fate seemed cruel. It was easier to just believe that no matter would I did, I would never be free of the Main House, no matter how hard I trained or worked or how many people cared about me, I would never have what I truly wanted, my own life. 

That was before I met him.

No, I don't mean Naruto. Naruto may have unlocked the door to my fate, but it was up to me to open it completely so I could walk through.

At first it seemed like Naruto's fate was failure. Barely graduating from the academy, terrible at ninjutsu, no bloodline abilities, just a loud and foolish dreamer. But now, he had become strong enough to beat me, able to perform jounin level jutsus, fight a demonic Gaara, then later Sasuke and survive and now planning on leaving Konoha to apprentice to one of the Sannin, perhaps he will be Hokage one day.

It was only when I cheated death, moving so the arrow missed my heart, did I completely understand what he had taught me. I may not have been able to avoid being shot by the arrow, but that didn't mean my fate was to die there. And I began to believe, maybe if Naruto could take control of his fate and pull himself not just out of the darkness but into the light, then so could I.

Author's Notes: Okay, was it just me, or was that part pure cheese? I usually prefer cheese with my macaroni or pizza instead of my stories, but don't worry, it will get better, I promise, no, in fact, I wager my entire Chobits manga series on it. It's just this first part that's written in first person, the rest will shift to third. Shikamaru's part is based on something he said during the chuunin exams, Neji's I made up.


	2. More Important Then Anything Else

Troublesome Fate

By: Lone Ronin

Author's Notes: The story will cover what happens to the other rookies after Naruto leaves the village, with a focus on Shikamaru and Neji.

Part 1: More Important Then Anything Else

It wasn't just the sweet deer meat that citizens of Konoha valued, barbequed or dried and preserved as portable rations for ninjas. Nor was it their hair, which made calligraphy brushes or their skin that made durable goods such as equipment pouches, shoes, grips for weapon handles and light armor. What was most prized, worth perhaps ten times their weight in gold, were the many medicines and healing seals that could be derived from their antlers, blood, bones and organs that had saved the lives of countless shinobi.

'The ingredients and effects of this medicine are ingenious. It really was amazing at just what the Nara clan had been able to devise from years of research, raising and training deer.' The Hokage thought as she scanned the manual.

"Bring me the antler next!" Tsunade ordered as she continued to grind and measure a large batch of base ingredients.

She could simply divide the cell growth changing medicine into three portions and then add different ingredients to each batch, creating one mix for Chouji to counter the side effects of his clan's pills, one mix for Kiba to ease his pain and promote healing by encouraging cell growth and one mix for Neji to slow the cell regeneration process after the holes in his body had been repaired to prevent cancer. The formula was designed not just to be incredibly effective and fast acting, but also to allow variations with different effects simply by changing a few ingredients or their proportions, giving her three potions at once and saving valuable time.

* * *

"How is he, sis?" Inuzuka Kiba propped himself up on his arm and watched his older sister bandaging Akamaru. 

"His muscles are badly torn, he can't walk right now." She answered.

"Will he be okay?"

"Relax, his wounds aren't life-threatening, he'll be fine with time. You just worry about yourself."

"Ow, yeah, I know." He winced as he lay back down. It hurt just to even think about moving, Sakon and Ukon had thrashed him so badly, but Akamaru would recover and that was all that mattered at that moment.

'I just hope the others are doing well, their injuries were far worse then mine.' Kiba thought.

"It's been three hours, take my place." Instructed the medic as others in the healing room continued to channel their charka.

* * *

The gaping wounds in Neji's body were still fairly obvious, but after six hours of constantly channeling charka from their bodies through their strongest healing seals, he had finally stabilized and they were ready for the final stage. 

"We're using his hair as a medium, please don't make any mistakes in the cell regeneration and remember to control your charka." Shizune ordered the new group of medics as they changed places with the last group so they could rest. As they performed the final series of hand seals and Neji's injuries finally closed, leaving nothing but faded pink scars.

* * *

"What are you getting so upset about, there's nothing you can do now, is there?" Temari's words brought him out of his dark brooding thoughts.

Nara Shikamaru sat in the hospital ward, glaring down at his bandaged finger as medics rushed around in the appreciated but stressful and not so glamorous task of healing the injured.

"In a mission, there's always sacrifice. Think of it as training." She continued.

"Training and combat are different and I know injuries are part of being a ninja. But this was my first mission as a leader, now I know I can't cut it as a shinobi." Answered Shikamaru.

"You're so fragile, yet you keep going on about being a man."

"I was supposed to be a leader, but I just relied on them, I wasn't strong enough."

"Are you afraid of getting hurt?" Temari asked.

Getting sick of her forceful attitude and deciding he needed to be alone, Shikamaru turned to leave.

"Shikamaru, are you running away because of what she said?" Nara Shikaku asked.

"I don't feel like getting into an argument right now." Shikamaru answered.

"Stop feeling sorry for yourself and acting like a coward. Even if you quit being a shinobi, there will still be missions and someone has to do them. Even if your teammates had another leader, there's always a chance they could die, you never know. Reflect on this mission and learn from your mistakes, for their sake." Shikaku continued.

Shikamaru said nothing. He saw the wisdom in his father's advice, but he still felt angry with himself. Tsunade came into the waiting room as Shikamaru's father finished his reprimand.

"It's all right now, the antidote I prepared stopped the side effects from degenerating his cells, Chouji will be okay. The Nara Clan's secret medicine preparation manual was very useful. It must have taken a lot of effort."

"Thank you." Shikaku answered.

"Tsunade-sama, Hyuuga Neji has been stabilized. I have also been told that Hatake Kakashi and Uzumaki Naruto have just arrived. Naruto seems to have some serious wounds, but nothing life-threatening." Shizune announced as she emerged, looking exhausted but triumphant.

But her smile faded and everyone in the room fell quiet, their worst fears confirmed as a medic came in to show them the slashed hitai-ate. Feelings of relief, shame, frustration and guilt all overwhelmed Shikamaru. He knew it was quite commendable, to return with your entire team despite failing a mission, but the sting of defeat was still fresh and bitter Shikamaru felt frustrated. To have planned everything out, with nothing to show for it but a broken finger, his teammates and closest friends in intensive care and Sasuke now a traitor and missing-nin.

"Shikamaru, it seems the mission failed, but everyone is alive, that is more important then anything else." Tsunade did her best to reassure him.

Shikamaru excused himself to a quiet part of a hospital, unable to stop the tears from leaking out.

"Next time, I'll do it perfectly." He quietly promised to himself.

* * *

Neji was dreaming, vaguely aware of the single bird, circling overhead as he flew up to join it. He felt himself pushing against the darkness, too old to be scared, but too young to be apathetic enough to give up and die. 

"Where am I?" he asked, feeling disoriented.

"You're at the hospital. Don't move, everything will be fine now." A voice answered.

As he felt medics moving him out of the healing room, voicing relief over his return to the living, he barely recalled the impact of the second arrow that impaled and almost killed him. He opened his eyes to see a female medic standing over him and instinctively put his hand to his forehead to cover his one weakness, his seal.

"How are you feeling?" she asked as she held out his hitai-ate.

"Fine, just kind of weak." Neji said as he tied the plate on.

"You'll feel very tired for a couple of days, but everything in the healing room seems to have gone well. The doctors want to do a few more tests before you leave just to make sure. Do you feel well enough to accept visitors?" she asked as she noted things on a clipboard.

"Yes, you can just let them in." Neji answered as he sat up and looked at the pale pink scar on his chest.

Looking up, Neji calmly greeted Hinata, Lee and Tenten as they entered with gifts. As he lay in the bed and watched the birds flying outside the window, Hyuuga Neji wondered about his fate and for the first time in his life, dreamed of something better.

* * *

As Shikamaru waited outside Chouji's room, he watched one of the medics monitor his condition and make notes on a clipboard. 

'Maybe if she had been with us on the mission, it wouldn't have been as bad.' He thought to himself.

As he turned away from the window, he caught sight of Tsunade walking by.

"Tsunade-sama, I know there are a lot of conditions for mission levels and team members, but I think at least one member of all teams should be a medic." Shikamaru suggested as he walked down the hall with her.

"I know and I made a similar recommendation many years ago, but it's very difficult to train a medical ninja. They still need combat skills and excellent charka control as well as the wisdom, persistence and patience to use their abilities under extreme pressure in the field. Apprentices and teachers can also be tough to find, most medics are busy enough as it is with the increased casualties and it's difficult to find a student with the right attitude, someone who's there to protect, not to fight. You go to Naruto's room first, I'll be there soon with some medicine."

* * *

Sakura watched the river from the bridge where Team 7 used to always wait for their jounin instructor, hoping that everyone, including Sasuke, had come back, yet knowing in her heart that no matter what happened, life would never be the same again. Suddenly, someone came running. 

"Sakura! It looks like everyone is back! I heard they're all in the hospital!" Ino called out to her.

They ran as quickly as they could to the hospital's front desk.

"I'm going to see Chouji first, what about you?" Ino asked.

"I'm going to see Naruto and Sasuke." Sakura answered.

As she approached Naruto's room, she heard him talking to Shikamaru.

Naruto sat up in his bed, staring at Sasuke's slashed hitai-ate and thinking about his promise to Sakura.

"So, you're awake." Came a voice from the door.

"Shikamaru!" Naruto's face lit up.

"Kiba and Akamaru are wounded, but they're awake. Chouji and Neji are unconscious, but they're expected to recover." Shikamaru told him.

"I see, so everyone is all right, I'm glad."

"And Sasuke…" Shikamaru asked, confirming what he already knew.

"Yeah…" Naruto answered.

Sakura stayed outside, afraid to hear what the answer would be.

"He left."

* * *

"It's all right Ino-chan, the medics were able to stabilize Chouji." Choumaru, Chouji's father told Ino as they waited outside the intensive care unit. 

"That's a relief, so we can't see him yet…"

"No, but Tsunade-sama said he should wake up soon, we were lucky she came back to the village. If she hadn't come, Chouji would be…"

* * *

"Naruto…" Sakura started as she entered with Tsunade. 

"I was told you were badly wounded, but you look okay despite that."

"I'm sorry, Sakura-chan." Naruto said, hanging he head, he couldn't bear to look at her when he hadn't been able to bring Sasuke back.

"Why are you apologizing? You just went overboard as usual, you look like a mummy with all those bandages. Here, let's open a window, it's so nice out today." Sakura said awkwardly, eager to change the subject.

"I'll keep my promise, I will bring Sasuke back." He insisted.

"It's okay Naruto, I know you will." Sakura answered, looking out the window.

"Sakura, this guy…" Shikamaru started, then held back on his urge to tell Sakura that Sasuke was nothing but a traitor, knowing that to them he was still a teammate.

"I'm not going take back my word." Naruto said stubbornly.

Seeing his determination, Sakura turned to leave.

'All I ever did was just cry and depend on Naruto, but he was ready to sacrifice his life to get Sasuke back.' She thought to herself, then she made her decision.

"I'm sorry Naruto-kun, I have to go do something, but next time, I'm going with you."

* * *

Tsunade sat at her desk, dealing with the paperwork that had piled up in all the chaos that had come from Sandaime's death when she heard a knock at the door. 

"Come in, what is it?" she asked as Sakura entered.

"Would you please take me as your pupil?" Sakura begged.

Tsunade paused for a moment. Kakashi had told her that Sakura was very bright and talented.

"Very well, I'm a strict teacher."

* * *

"How are you feeling?" Shikamaru asked as he entered Kiba's room to find Hinata and Shino already there. 

"It hurts to move, but I'll be okay. I'm more worried about Akamaru, my sister said his leg muscles were really torn."

While they were talking about the outcome of the mission, a female medic who looked a few years older then them entered the room.

"It's time for your medicine, Kiba-san." She said.

"They've got me on painkillers, so I probably won't be doing anything interesting for a while." Kiba forced a smile as the medic measured out his dose in a syringe and checked him over.

"Is there anyone else you have to visit?" Shino asked.

"Neji." Shikamaru answered.

"Neji's awake now, I visited him just before coming here." Said Hinata.

"I have to check up on Hyuuga Neji afterwards, I can take you to his room." The medic said as she made note on his clipboard.

"Thank you." Said Shikamaru as he followed her down the hall.

"If you need anything from me, my name is Yumi." She said.

As she led Shikamaru to Neji's room, Yumi noticed his broken finger.

"May I?" she stopped and asked.

Shikamaru held his out his finger and allowed her to speed the healing with her Chiyute no Jutsu. As she touched his hand and made sure she had done the job right, he noticed that her skin was rather rough with the fine nicks and scratches of weapons and concluded she must be a field medic, since they usually had at least a little combat skill.

"You have amazing charka control." He complimented as she let him into Neji's room.

"Thank you. Here, you look like you've been crying." The medic said as she gave him a handkerchief.

"I was their leader for the mission, it's my fault they got hurt."

"Don't blame yourself, these things happen. What's more important then anything else is that you brought everyone back alive." Yumi reassured him before going in to check him.

Shikamaru hesitated after she left, then entered the room to find Neji gazing intently out the window.

"Hey. How is everything?"

"I feel a little weak, but they said I should be able to leave in a few days. Naruto's talking to someone, he will be leaving the village soon." Neji answered as he turned to face Shikamaru.

"You've been crying." He continued.

"It's not very polite to spy on others in a hospital." Said Shikamaru.

"You assume I was looking through the walls with my Byakugan, but Naruto's room is directly below mine and your eyes are still slightly red. Did everyone get back from the mission?" Neji asked.

"The others were badly hurt, but they should recover with time." Shikamaru answered as his gaze wandered to the windowsill, looking at some get-well presents from Tenten, Gai, Lee and some Hyuuga family members.

"You were looking at the shogi board the most out of all of them, Hinata left it for me." Observed Neji.

"I've played it a lot." He answered.

"I want to play against you."

Shikamaru picked up the gift and set up the board. After a few moves, Neji spoke.

"I heard that the mission failed." Neji said as a flat statement, without any blame or malice in his voice.

"Yes, Sasuke is now a missing-nin." Shikamaru answered as Neji captured his bishop.

"Don't blame yourself for what happened, I choose to take the risk and fight, I have no regrets." Said Neji.

They were both silent for the next few moves before Neji continued.

"I know that you feel guilty about my injuries, since you're not looking directly at me but not focusing completely on the game. We should consider our next moves and prepare for the future. We may have failed the mission, but that doesn't mean the Sound has won."

Shikamaru half-looked up as he took Neji's knight.

"I know, I've just had a lot of doubts about my myself." Shikamaru replied as he dropped his captured knight. They stayed quiet for a few more moves, until it became clear that Neji's attempts at setting numerous traps to corner Shikamaru's king hadn't worked and now his opponent had seen an opening. After a long series of attempts to trap and outmaneuver each other, Shikamaru won.

"You beat me. No one has ever beat me at shogi before." Neji said, half-amazed.

Shikamaru shrugged.

"I want to play against you again." Neji demanded.

Shikamaru thought about it for a moment. He did need something to take his mind off things for a while, and it had been a while since he had played against anyone who was really skilled at shogi besides Asuma…

"Sure." he answered as he set up the board again.

Author's Notes: I know most of this is from the manga, but I have added some stuff to give background to my story, since they don't show Shikamaru visiting Kiba or Neji. Most people think Shikamaru's dad is Shikato, but I'm watching the anime and he's called Shikaku. I've heard that Chouji's dad is Choumaru and Ino's dad is Inoue, don't know for sure, but until I find out otherwise, I'm using those.

Here's a good resource on playing shogi http/ www. crockford. com/ chess/ shogi. html (take out the spaces) but a quick rundown of the game is that flat, 5 sided pieces are used on a 9 by 9 checkered board that can move depending on their rank and which part of the board they are on. Captured pieces can be used as your own and dropped onto certain spots on the board.

Chiyute no Jutsu - Healing Hands Technique, chakra is focused into the palms of the hands, creating a small ball of healing charka.


	3. Battle Tactics

Troublesome Fate

Part 2: Battle Tactics

Author's notes: Hope to do more of this soon, but I got a lot of other things to take care of too, mainly finding another job. There's really no yaoi for a few chapters, but there is a lot of fighting and killing things. Wheee.

Shikamaru had fallen into a quiet routine of training, visiting the hospital to see Chouji during his recovery and playing shogi with Neji while still having time to relax and watch the clouds in between caring for the deer. But Konoha finally reestablished its defenses and were able to organize the new genin and chuunin teams. After saying goodbye to Naruto and the three Sand-nin Shikamaru headed for the administrator's offices and waited his turn outside until he was finally called in.

"Now then, as a chuunin, you will be expected to act as a leader and example for genin to follow. You must be able to operate not just in a team, but also independently. Most of your missions will be with your main team, but you may be grouped with another team should special circumstances arise. In addition to team missions, you may also be given solo missions if it is determined that you will be able to handle them. While it is expected that you continue to improve your combat skills, after a year you are also free to request a new team arrangement, specialize as a chuunin teacher, a chuunin team captian, field medic or ANBU. You are also free to take the jounin exam. Your new team member's names are Yakushi Yumi and Hagane Roka and your team captian is Namiashi Subatsu."

"What happened to their old team member?" Shikamaru asked.

"He passed the jounin exam. One of your team members will summon you in the morning. Good luck."

After Shikamaru left, one of the administrators turned to his superior.

"Akira-san, are you sure it's a good idea, putting him with such an advanced group?"

"Don't worry, if Subatsu-sensei can't get him to make the most of his potential, then no one can. Nara can go far, he just needs the right motivation."

* * *

"I thought you looked pretty good and lean when you were discharged, you sure know how to rebound back to your original size, huh?" Ino asked as they ate as Chouji's favorite BBQ restaurant, which Asuma had decided to treat them to in order to celebrate everyone's recovery from the hospital and the completion of Shikamaru's first mission as a chuunin.

"Since your appetite is back, I assume you're feeling all better?" Asuma asked.

"I'll be ready to train after I finish eating, Asuma-sensei." Chouji replied.

"It just won't be the same without the three of us. You better be able to still hang out with us, even if you are now a chuunin." Ino told Shikamaru.

Although Ino at first had hated the fact that she hadn't been on the same team as Sasuke when they had all graduated from the academy, they all eventually became close and just as they were really starting to develop as a team, Shikamaru was now being reassigned to a chuunin team since he was the only one who had passed the exam.

"Being a chuunin's just a title and it's not like I'm leaving Konoha or abandoning all of you, we'll still have our days off. They're having the chunnin exams again soon anyways, I'm sure you two will pass it on your next try, then they might put us back together again when they reorganize the teams." Shikamaru replied.

"By the way, I heard your captain is Namiashi Subatsu, used to be an ANBU captain, but it seems he's getting on in years. Better train hard, I hear he's a real slave driver." Asuma told him as he pulled out another cigarette.

"Who else is on your team, Shikamaru?" Chouji asked between bites.

"Yashuki Yumi and Hagane Roka."

"Yumi took care of me at the hospital and she snuck me chips." Said Chouji, looking as though he had the beginnings of a crush.

"I wondered why you seemed so motivated to train all of a sudden, Chouji-kun. The Hagane family buys a lot of flowers from my family's shop they're in charge of the funeral home in the Northern part of Konoha. My dad told me they raise the birds that deliver messages too." Added Ino.

* * *

"Shikamaru, there's a girl at the door for you. Honestly, you're a chuunin now, you should at least be able to get up on time." Shikamaru's mother kept hectoring him as he tried to snuggle back under the nice warm sheets.

"Shikamaru, if you don't get up right now, I'm going to pour ice cold water on your head!" Nara Minako yelled.

Remembering the last time she had done it, Shikamaru shot out of bed.

"Okay! Okay! I'm going!"

He opened the door to see Yumi,. Her white medic outfit was visible under her chuunin flak jacket, with her large medical kit tucked neatly up against her hip. A large naginata, a type of large curved halberd was strapped to her back.

"Hey I'm Yashuki Yumi, I remember you from the hospital, Shikamaru right? Subatsu-sensei sent me to get you."

As they jumped across the rooftops, the topics they discussed jumped around from talking about each other, to jutsus, to deer, since Yumi really liked animals. To Shikamaru, she seemed to have a combination of Ino's confidence without her pushiness and Naruto's cheer without being completely loud and annoying. He knew they'd get along fine. The conversation shifted to his new team.

"Roka's kind of a wild fighter and when he's not training he's usually partying, but he knows his stuff and once you get to know him, he'll fight by your side right to the end. Oh, but I should warn you about Subatsu-sensi, he's very strict, but if he likes you, he's very loyal and trustworthy, if he doesn't like you, well, don't worry, I know he'll like you. But he has a little of, well, an odd appearance." She fiddled with her skirt a bit as she finished, it seemed to be a nervous habit of hers.

"I heard he used to be an ANBU." Shikamaru said.

"He was until, how can I put this? You know how most older shinobi often have some kind of scar or old wound, he has a bit of a deformity from when a mission went sour. It's quite bad, but please try not to stare."

As they finally reached the training area, Shikamaru caught sight of Subatsu, he looked like he had suffered severe burns a while ago. The entire left half of his face, from his nose onwards, was horribly scarred, the skin uneven and buckled, his ear an almost entirely melted off and misshapen mass. The scarring and buckling ran right down his shoulder and onto his left arm, which had only three claw-like fingers, the pinky and ring finger cut off. A pair of katana blades were sheathed at his lower legs. Yumi introduced him and he started asking Shikamaru questions right away.

"I know the Nara clan uses shadow ninjutsu, do you have any besides that?"

"Beyond the basics, no."

"Do you have any specialized training in weapons beyond basic ninja tools?"

"No."

"You're going to specialize in a weapon and you'll be learning more jutsus later. Let's just do some light sparring for today so I can see what level you're at, any ninjutsu or tools you have with you are fair game. Roka and Shikamaru first, then Yumi gets the winner."

Yumi leaned her naginata against a tree and Roka put his coiled whip on the ground. Shikamaru sized up Roka as they faced off. The first thing you couldn't help but notice was that he managed to look quite intimidating despite the fact that he was very thin, almost gaunt in fact. His black pants and grey top seemed to hang off him, while his medium length black hair hung around his face in a straggly way. Shikamaru quickly used his shadow, while Roka cut his finger and summoned a swarm of crows. Shikamaru tried his best to fend off the crows with nets and smoke bombs as they cawed and pecked at him before using Kawarimi no Jutsu to switch himself with a log.

"That won't do any good, my crows will find you." Roka said as the large black birds began to circle around looking for him.

"What's going on? He can't have gone far!" He yelled at the crows as they circled and cawed back at him, unable to find their target.

"Well, go high up then! He's around here somewhere!" Roka ordered.

"Mokudon no Jutsu!" Roka performed another summon, springing up vines everywhere.

Deciding to take high ground, Roka kept bringing up more vines from the ground on the while standing on top of the largest one he had made. Suddenly, he realized that he couldn't move.

'My crows didn't see him at all, how did he catch me?'

"How did you evade my crows? No one has ever been able to hide from them." Roka called out.

Roka felt his head turning around but it didn't help, all he could see was his shadow leading to the ground as his crows perched on the vines.

"Where are you? I don't get it." He called out.

"I'm right here." One of his crows on the ground said, before turning into Shikamaru in a cloud of smoke.

"I didn't know you were that good at Henge no Jutsu." Roka knew Subatsu was able to really change his size when he transformed, but he didn't think that Shikamaru was that good at it.

"You didn't ask me." Said Shikamaru as the shadow leading from Shikamaru's shadow, up the vine to Roka's shadow became more evident.

Roka responded by whistling, giving the order for his crows to attack with full force, but before they could reach him, Shikamaru performed a series of hand seals causing the other chuunin to mimic his moves. Roka suddenly realized that Shikamaru had memorized the very hand seals he had used to summon his crows, but since he had already called out all his crows, all he was doing now was wasting his charka while nothing happened to Shikamaru since he didn't have any summoning abilities. All the crows disappeared in a puff of smoke as Roka's charka level dropped below what was needed to keep them there. Despite having the advantage of more field experience and stronger jutsus, he was now pinned by Shikamaru, unable to move and without enough charka to perform any techniques even if he could move.

"You're not going to do what I think you're going to do, are you?" Roka asked.

"I could choke you a bit, but I think I'll save my charka for the next fight." Shikamaru smirked as he took one step backwards, sending Roka crashing to the ground.

"Ow." Came Roka's voice as he pulled himself out of the mass of vines that he had summoned at the last minute to brake his fall.

"When will you learn not to be so reckless? Your turn, Yumi." Subatsu ordered.

Shikamaru knew better then to use his Kage Mane no Jutsu right away, since Yumi had seen what he was able to do now, so at first they simply used basic techniques such as Kawarimi no Jutsu. Shikamaru finally managed to knock Yumi backwards with a well-placed explosive note and then tried to grab her shadow. Suddenly, she performed some hand seals.

"Tsuchi no Jutsu!" Small sharp walls of earth that went up to about the waist sprang up from the ground to disrupt the shadow.

Shikamaru manipulated charka into his feet to jump over Yumi's head, then tried to extend his shadow behind Yumi to trap her as he landed. Just before it reached her she saw it and quickly used a smoke bomb. A set of kunai came out of the smoke at him, which he easily dodged before sending his shadow at the source to try and catch her, but Yumi quickly jumped above the smoke and performed another series of hand seals.

"Katon no Jutsu!" she cried as a wave of fire came shooting out in a wide scatter from her hands. The flames had barely left her hands before she rushed another set of seals.

"Kaze no Jutsu!" Yumi then used a blast of wind to whip the fire into an inferno, burning all the vines and nearby cover to prevent Shikamaru from adding them to his shadow.

With nowhere else to dodge, Shikamaru hurled himself at Yumi's landing spot inside the smoke cloud, performing one last set of hand seals and then drawing a kunai. Roka and Subatsu heard some loud clanging sounds. When the smoke cleared, it looked like Yumi was the winner since she had managed to knock Shikamaru's kunai from his hand, but then Shikamaru activated his Kage Kubi Shubari no Jutsu.

"I don't recommend doing that." Yumi warned as the shadow hands reached up to choke her.

"What the hell-" Shikamaru said in surprise, as he felt like he was being choked at the same time.

"I was able to pull off one last ninjutsu too. My Mane no Jutsu makes the attacker feel the same thing as their target. I developed it a while ago, but didn't think it would be very useful until I heard that you were joining us."

"I guess I can't choke you then and I really don't like fighting girls, though you fight pretty well." Said Shikamaru.

"I just don't like fighting in general, let's call this one a draw." Replied Yumi and they both put their kunai away.

Just as Yumi had warned him before hand, they all sat down and Subatsu proceeded to discuss their strengths and weaknesses and mistakes they had made in their fights.

"Roka, you have to stop being so reckless, fighting by simply tearing up the battlefield is not always the best solution, and it shouldn't be your first one. Yumi, it's good that you've improved you charka control but you still need increase your stamina. Finally, I see that you're a good tactician, Shikamaru, but you still need other unique ninjutsu besides the basics and your shadow abilities and don't be inhibited about fighting someone or what you should be doing based on gender, it's how you fight with your hands, not what's between your legs."

Yumi suppressed a giggle at Shikamaru's slightly irked expression. Suddenly, a large falcon with a message tied to its leg swooped down and landed on Roka's arm.

"We're needed as back-up for a mission in progress at the edge of Fire Country. We're to go for a briefing at Godaime's office right now, then we leave tomorrow to rendezvous with Anko-san, who will give us further information on the situation." Roka read out.

* * *

It was well known in the village that it would be years before Konoha completely recovered from Orochimaru's attack, so genin and chuunin were being assigned to higher missions then they normally would have been given before not just for more money to rebuild but also to keep face and not appear vulnerable to attack.

"This is a big A-Rank mission other chuunin and jounin have already been working on, they've requested backup. A warlord by the name of Nobaru has been kidnapping citizens and terrorizing villages to the far southeast of Konoha. The Leaf-nin there had been posing as magistrates attempting to secure the release of the hostages and had learned quite a bit about the warlord. He's got numerous thugs and missing-nin from various countries to work for him, we also suspect that he has many sound-nin on his side. We also have reports that he's managed to breed and tame a large herd of unusually vicious horses, reports say they've never seen anything like it. Your current objectives are to assassinate the warlord, apprehend as many missing-nin as possible, destroy the horses and free the hostages."

* * *

"I wish I could hang out for a bit, but I've got dance classes today, then I promised my parents I'd help with the night shift at the hospital. See you tomorrow." Said Yumi as she ran off.

"She's always busy doing something. What about you Shikamaru, do you have anything to do right now?" Roka asked.

"Just watch clouds I guess." Shikamaru's laid back answer made Roku raise an eyebrow.

"Watch the clouds?"

"My friends are all training, my dad's gone on a mission, my mom's busy running errands. It's just what I like to do when I've got spare time."

"Well, it's good to relax a bit before a bit mission. Come on, I'll take you out to dinner, my treat." The older chuunin offered.

"Sure, Roka-san."

"You can use Roka-kun, since we're working together, we should be on friendly terms, same for Yumi-chan, we use Subatsu-sempai with our captain , since he used to be an ANBU. We're going to get called for a lot of missions since Subatsu was an excellent ANBU captain in his prime and Yumi's an excellent medic." Roka said as they sat down and read through the menu.

"A friend of mine has a crush on her."

"Better tell him not to waste his time. Yumi's nice, but between her missions, her dancing, her work at the hospital and filling in at the bookstore, she hasn't really got time for romance."

Roka's information worried Shikamaru. He wasn't quite sure what to tell Chouji, neither of them had any experience with relationships…

The arrival of the waitress to take their orders broke Shikamaru out of his thoughts.

"I was told your old team member became a jounin, what's he like?" Shikamaru asked after ordering the same thing as his teammate.

"I'm afraid Kamizuki Nozumi didn't pass the jounin exam as you were told, he died on a mission. He was pretty old, doing well as a fortune teller, but he came out of retirement after the attack during the chuunin exams to help deal with the desperate ninja shortage. He had a really odd special ability Yumi called it clairvoyance, I believe. He could predict things about a day or so before they would happen. He told us he knew he was going to die on our next mission, but not to worry; he felt it was his time. Sure enough we were attacked and he took a hit. The blow wasn't fatal, but the shock resulted in a heart attack, there was nothing Yumi could do. A shame too, he was a really cool guy." Roka answered with a sigh.

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"It's all right, he was ready for it and didn't have any regrets. So, any other questions?"

"How come you use a whip?" Shikamaru asked as the waitress arrived with their drinks.

"What's wrong with using a whip?"

"I always thought of it as a woman's weapon." Shikamaru replied as he sipped his tea.

"That's a new one. Everyone's got their own reason as to why they think it's kind of strange that I use a whip, Yumi said she thought it was kinky." Roka answered with a laugh as Shikamaru choked on his drink.

"I don't know why I decided to specialize in a whip, I guess I just found that it complimented my abilities. I like having a wide range and I'm more about being quick then strong. Subatsu insisted we both train with weaponry when we were put on his team, you'll have to as well. Do you have any idea what weapon you want to specialize in?"

"Haven't really thought of one." The lazy ninja answered with a shrug.

"You know, my older brother told me about what you could do during the chuunin exams. I think you'd do well with a chain and sickle."

"How come?"

"Just think of how much further you could reach your shadow, all you'd have to do is whip our your line, and stick out your shadow a bit, then all someone else has to do is swoop in and take the other guy out and if you learned to use it right, you could hack right through someone's armor."

Their conversation ended as the waitress arrived with their orders.

'It may be troublesome, but this time I'll make sure the mission is successful.' Shikamaru thought as he quietly poked at his food.

Author's notes: Those fights were a bit of a pain to figure out, but I swear some of the fight scenes in this series are starting to piss me off. I like watching fights with Shikamaru since he uses his head, but lately all it's becoming is power-up-and-bash-the-other-guy-senseless-through-sheer-brute-force ala Dragonball Z.

Here's a little info on my original characters and techniques from the manga, or that I made up myself by piecing whatever words together. If you're completely obsessed with the manga/anime and have good memory (or some combination thereof), you'll probably recognize the family names, but for those of you who don't, Namiashi Subatsu is the elder brother of Namiashi Raido (Jounin with raised scar on left side of face extending from nose to ear), Yakushi Yumi is the cousin of Kabuto and Hagane Roka is the younger brother of Hagane Kotetsu (Chuunin examiner with bandage over face). Kamizuki Nozumi is/was a relative of Kamizuki Izumo (Chuunin Examiner with bandana who appears with Kotetsu).

Tsuchi no Jutsu – Earth technique, calls up a wall of earth that can be used to defend or attack. A weaker version of Sandaime'version of Doton: Doryuuheki (Earth Type: Mudslide Barrier)

Katon no Jutsu – Fire technique, shoots fire from the hands. Similar to Sasuke's Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu (Flame Type: Powerful Fireball Technique)

Kawarimi no Jutsu - Body switch/replacement technique

Kage Kubi Shubari no Jutsu – Shadow neck choke technique

Mane no Jutsu – Imitation Jutsu, I made this one up, basically the attacker has the same damage inflicted on them as they are inflicting on someone else.

Kaze no Jutsu – Wind technique, can be used to cushion a fall or be combined with other elemental jutsus to increase or change their power.

Mokudon no Jutsu – Wood technique, causes vines to spring up that can grip the enemy and slow them down. Basically a weaker version of Shodaime's Mokudon: Jyukai Koudan (Wood Type: Forest Genesis)

I gave Roka and Yumi elemental and low-level summoning abilites, but their powers are nowhere near the level of the Hokages, they're just a few steps shy of jounin level.


	4. Going Batty

Troublesome Fate

Warnings: Here's where things start to get a higher rating, due to violence and swearing. I felt like coming up with lots of stuff involving creepy critters, since I'm a biology student and I'm messed in the head.

Part 3: Going Batty

Shikamaru walked down the street, feeling too groggy to jump across the rooftops and deciding to take his time and enjoy the morning sunrise, his bag brimming with provisions for the A Rank mission. He had never been in the Southeastern part of Fire Country before, Asuma had warned him that the climate was hotter and the food more spicy. As he approached Yumi, who was standing in front of the Pink Bookstore where she sometimes filled in between working on missions and at the hospital and lived in the apartment above it with her parents, he saw an older woman speaking to her in the rudest tone and language he'd ever heard since his encounter with that Sound-nin Tayuya. Yumi seemed to be taking the verbal abuse in stride, quietly reading a scroll and not even looking at the woman.

"Why the fuck wasn't it given to me? I'm his mother." The woman was practically screeching.

"The ANBU told me that he left specific instructions that I would be the first to be notified if anything happened to him, if you have a problem, take it up with them. Here, it's not as if you don't already know." Yumi held out the scroll, not even blinking as it was snatched out of her hand.

"You need help?" Shikamaru asked as he approached her.

"Don't worry about it, Shikamaru, let's just go." Yumi whispered as they quickly left for the gates.

Yumi didn't even look back as the woman continued screaming, swearing and cursing at her like a rabid she-devil.

"It should have been you, you worthless little bitch! Not my Kabuto!"

'That name's familiar.' Shikamaru thought.

"Kabuto? Is he an older genin with white hair and glasses?" he asked.

"Oh, you saw him at the chuunin exams?" Yumi replied.

"Yeah, he pulled out before the preliminary matches. Did something happen to him?" he answered.

"You could say that. I guess I'm more disappointed then surprised, but he's formally been declared an S-Rank criminal and missing-nin." Yumi answered with a sad look in her eyes.

Shikamaru was about to ask why a person he only knew as a Konoha genin would be declared an S-Rank criminal, when they reached the village gates. Subatsu gave them work clothes to wear over their regular clothes and showed them all the hidden compartments containing their equipment and provisions on their mule cart before leaving through Konoha's gate.

"If anyone stops to question us, our story is that we're carpenters transporting supplies for a building project in the Southern post town of Tanaka. Don't use your ninja abilities unless we're attacked, we don't want to be seen. I'll keep an eye on the road and steer the cart for now, so I'd suggest you all have a snack and take a long nap, this trip will take most of the day. Roka, you know what to do." Subatsu instructed.

Roka nodded and cut his thumb, summoning a pair of crows.

"My birds will watch out for traps and bandits. I brought some snacks for the trip, what about you guys?" Roka asked.

"Just my old shogi board, anyone want a match?" Shikamaru asked.

"Maybe later." Said Roka.

"Sorry, Shikamaru-kun, I'm no good at shougi. I brought some stuff to polish my weapon with, medicine that some of the shinobi we're meeting with requested and some of my favorite manga." Yumi answered.

Shikamaru picked up a manga out of curiosity and started reading it.

"Oh, that's my yaoi doushinji." Said Yumi.

"What's yaoi doushinji?" Shikamaru asked.

"It's gay porn disguised as cheesy romance. All the girls like reading that stuff, Yumi's practically the town dealer." Roka snorted.

"It's not porn, it's art!" She answered.

"If that's art, then picking the crusts out of my eyes in the early morning is training." Answered Roka.

"Look, see? Shikamaru likes it." Said Yumi.

"I dunno, he looks more like someone wants to pull his teeth out to me." Roka pointed out Shikamaru's twitching eyebrow with a laugh.

Shikamaru wasn't paying attention to Yumi and Roka's conversation. There was only one really clear thought in his mind about his new reading material.

'These two guys look like Naruto and Sasuke.'

* * *

After reading some manga, they all had snacks and chatted around lunchtime as Roka and Shikamaru began a game of shogi while Yumi watched.

"Crud, I can't believe I missed that." Roka said as Shikamaru captured his bishop.

"As I was saying, things didn't change much after I finished the chuunin exams. I was called on a lot of missions as a field medic even before I was considered a chuunin." Yumi continued their discussion about how things had changed for them when they became chuunin.

"I like being a chuunin; you're given more freedom then a genin but less danger then a jounin, the missions usually aren't too easy or difficult and the pay is okay. What about you Shikamaru?" Roka asked.

"It's a lot more troublesome then I thought it would be, but I guess someone has to do it." Shikamaru answered as he bit into his apple.

He chewed lazily on his fruit, before his eyes went wide and he spat it out.

"How disgusting." He said, plucking a bug out from the apple.

Suddenly, one of Roka's crows swooped down and took the insect from his hand.

"Taki says thank you." Roka said as the crow perched on his shoulder.

The crow then began cawing to Roka, who nodded.

"He says there's an assassin in the tree up ahead that looks like they're prepared to ambush any passers-by. Doesn't look like he's specifically after us though, there's only one of them."

* * *

The ninja waiting on the path quietly drew a kunai and threw it at the driver of the cart as it rolled down the path. The weapon hit its mark, but instead of killing the driver, the cart simply disappeared and the attacker found himself being attacked by a swarm of crows. It was too late to try and counter as Shikamaru pinned the enemy with Kage Mane no Jutsu before their captain struck and broke the Sound-nin's leg with one kick.

"Who sent you!" Subatsu asked the overpowered Sound-nin.

The captain prepared to break the other leg to make him talk, when the sound-nin suddenly fell to the ground, convulsing for a few moments before going still. The group jumped back with their kunai drawn, waiting to see if it was a trap. After a minute passed, Subatsu used his katana to turn the body over and peel off the mask.

"What's that?" Yumi asked, pointing out a device underneath the mask that the younger chuunin had never seen before.

"I haven't seen one of those used in years. It's a cyanide pill dispenser that holds a single fatal pill that a ninja takes to avoid torture and being forced to give up information. Roka, send a crow with a message for the ANBU, I'm sure they'll be able to get some useful information from the body, even if he wasn't that skilled." Subatsu explained.

After checking for any useful equipment and burying the corpse, they continued on their way.

"That bastard Orochimaru, thanks to him these sound-nin are harassing everyone on the road, I'm getting too old for this shit. " The captain grumbled.

"Should I call out some more crows?" Roka asked.

"Just bring out two more for now and try to make sure at least one of you stays alert, just in case." Subatsu ordered.

After a couple more hours without any more ambush attempts, it seemed like they were out of dangerous territory and everyone relaxed. Roka discussed training with Subatsu as Yumi polished her weapon while Shikamaru lay back for a nap.

* * *

"Get up, snoozebucket." Shikamaru woke up from his nap to Subatsu kicking him gently in the side.

"Are we there already?" he asked, realizing it was dark and that they had stopped moving.

"No, get up Shikamaru-kun, it's important." Yumi whispered.

Shikamaru was suddenly fully awake and in full fighting mode with a kunai drawn when he realized not only that everyone else had their weapons out, but that it wasn't really night. It was late afternoon and the sun was still out, there were just so many bats flying around their ride that they darkened the sky. Thousands of large black bats were everywhere.

"What's going on? It doesn't feel like a genjutsu." He said, not quite sure what to make of this strange new event.

"You're right, every one of these bats is real. But why they're surrounding us, I have no idea." Subatsu replied.

"Is it just me, or do the bats sound like they're talking?" Yumi asked as the black bats flapped around them, their squeaks sounding like phrases such as "A Nara has come" and "Shikamaru-sama".

"This is getting creepy." Roka commented.

Yumi suddenly squealed as a large shape fluttered past them. It was too fast for Shikamaru, Roka or Yumi to even realize what it was, but Subatsu's hand snapped out and caught a large bat in mid-air.

"We are sorry to alarm you, I am Kouichi, chief courtier of the bats of Fire Country." The bat suddenly spoke to them.

"It's no trouble, how can we help you?" Subatsu asked, not looking the least bit surprised that he was holding a talking bat.

"Our lord, Noren-sama owes a debt to the Nara clan and wants to talk to Shikamaru-sama." Said Kouichi

"We'll need a moment to discuss it, we were on our way to an important mission before you stopped us." Subatsu answered as he released the huge bat.

"Follow us if you accept the invitation." Kouichi answered before flapping back into the sky to join the other bats that had formed a large cluster above them.

"Should we go with them?" Yumi asked.

"The crows are allies with the bats, my birds have told me that bats have been known to help people and if they're out in the daytime, it's probably important, though I don't know why they would want to see Shikamaru." Said Roka.

* * *

They followed the bats for a short distance off the path to the opening of what seemed to be a small cave. It was a tight squeeze for them to get through, but after crawling for a few feet, the cave opened up into a large, cool, dry room with high ceilings. Small openings in the ceiling let in just the right amount of light for them to see elegant chambers, archways and openings that were carved into the walls of the cave. Old fire pits, bone shards and broken pottery that lay around on the floor showed that people had once carved out and lived in these caves.

"I sure wouldn't mind living here, I wonder why they left." Yumi said breathlessly as they all looked around, astounded by how beautiful it was.

"Hey, look at this, the Nara clan's crest." Roka pointed out hieroglyphs on the walls, which had symbols that were identical to the one on Shikamaru's jacket.

"I seem to recall an old story I once heard about a group of people who lived in caves, ate bats and worshipped them before founding some of the towns in Southeastern Fire Country." Subatsu commented.

Suddenly, Noren, the emperor of the bats, swooped into the main area from a nearby cave and hung, upside-down on the ceiling. He was a huge black shadow, with a body as big as an adult human and a ten-foot wingspan.

"It's true that people once did live here and that the Nara clan is a descendant of them, but these caves have been abandoned for years." The bat lord stated as Shikamaru and his teammates gave a formal bow of respect.

"So why did all the people leave? This seems like a nice, safe place to stay." Yumi asked.

"A cave isn't a natural place to a human, they only viewed these caves as a temporary home for difficult times and eventually forgot about it altogether." Noren replied before he turned to Shikamaru.

"You are from the Nara clan? Do you know someone named Shikamoto?" he asked.

"That was my grandfather, but he died before I was born, why did you want to see him?"

"Your family never told you why they left for Konoha?"

"I was told that my grandfather was a deer herder who ran away from an arranged marriage and that after his medicine from deer antlers helped save Konoha from a plague, the only thing that he asked for in return was a quiet refuge to live out his life in as he pleased." Shikamaru answered.

"Then it seems he never told you how he also visited these caves when we were in the midst of a famine. Or that he told the bats about the flying insects they could eat in Konoha that spread the plague and that I never got around to repaying his favor of saving my subjects from starvation I regret it's too late to properly thank your grandfather now, but please accept whatever items you can take with you from my personal possessions for the rest of your clan. It's in that chamber to the right."

"He did as much as he could with as little effort as possible, then all he asked for was to live in peace and quiet? Sure sounds like something a Nara would do." Roka muttered before Yumi shushed him.

They entered through a decorated archway into a room piled to the ceiling with treasures. Looking around at all the riches, Shikamaru selected a brand new shogi set with pieces made of polished marble that folded up neatly into a lacquered jewelry box with intricate carvings and a small jade talisman with 5 bats carved into it.

"That's all you're taking? But you could carry so much more treasure." The emperor asked.

"It's easy to carry and it's all I need for now. I was planning to get a new shogi set and a gift for my parent's anniversary anyways. You were testing my character, weren't you?" Shikamaru answered as he added his old shogi set to the abandoned human artifacts that lay on the floor of the cave.

"Very perceptive, seems the Nara clan hasn't changed that much. Since you are a shinobi, I think a jutsu would benefit you better then some trinkets." Said Noren as a pair of bats from deeper inside the cave flew out carrying a large scroll, which they unfurled and dropped at Shikamaru's feet.

"Sign your name to the contract with your blood, then your fingerprints. The hand seals are boar, dragon, monkey, rat and rooster. Whoever can answer the call with the amount of chakra that you use will respond."

"You should feel honored, Shikamaru. The only way to get a summon jutsu is if another with the summon passes the contract to you or if the creatures you are summoning decide you are worthy. The bats don't just choose anyone." Subatsu said to Shikamaru as he cut his thumb and signed the contract.

"I wish we could stay longer, Noren-sama, but it is important that we meet with our fellow shinobi for our mission." The captain addressed Noren.

"Of course. One more thing you should know; our powers are greater when we are summoned at night then in the day." Said the bat king before giving them permission to leave.

"Congratulations on getting a summon, why don't you try it out?" Subatsu suggested as they walked out of the cave.

Shikamaru cut his thumb and performed the seals.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu: Koumori!"

The smoke cleared to reveal a tiny, hairless baby bat.

* * *

"Don't feel embarrassed Shikamaru-kun, that happens to everyone on their first summon. You'll get better with practice." Reassured Subatsu as they arrived at the post town.

The climate had grown warmer and wetter, to the point of being tropical as they finally reached the post town in the late evening of the setting sun. The team kept an eye out for Anko, since they already had a signal worked out to identify her with. Just as they were about to get out of their mule cart, an old woman approached the group.

"Seems a bit late for carpenters to be out looking for work." The old woman said.

"We're just passing through, ma'am." Subatsu answered.

"Then perhaps you would be interested in buying some of my dead husband's tools?" said the woman as she presented a tool set that was missing a chisel.

"I'm sure we can make a deal." Subatsu answered as he discreetly showed the missing chisel from the set.

They made their way to an alley, where Anko transformed back into her true form and led them to an inn she had already arranged for.

"Long time no see, Subatsu-san, I see you're all enjoying the weather." Anko said with a smirk as they wiped the sweat from their faces.

"Better enjoy a hot bath and a good meal for now. Tomorrow, we complete the journey is on foot." She said.

* * *

The next day they ate breakfast while leaping through the trees Anko explained the mission as they jumped through the trees.

"The Warlord's camp is in a clearing not far from here. Our intelligence has determined that his troops are about several thousand strong, but many of them are scattered about the countryside in small skirmishes with the military forces of the Feudal Lord of Fire Country. Our concern is with the hostages and equipment he holds at his camp. We're planning to strike tonight, since he only has about fifty men at his main camp right now. Nobaru, the warlord, believes that two of our jounin that have been meeting him are two magistrates negotiating on a ransom for the hostages he is holding at his camp. While it's crucial that we assassinate Nobaru and rescue the hostages, our largest concern is his horses."

"Why is there so much concern over his horses?" Subatsu asked.

"They're not ordinary horses, we're not even sure they are horses. They sort of resemble horses and his men ride them, but they're incredibly vicious they're fed meat with their hay. We have no idea where he got them from, but they're the reason that the Hokage is so concerned, they must be destroyed, they're simply too dangerous."

"Anko-san, do you know if the Sound are involved in any of this?" Yumi asked.

"We have seen some sound-nin, but we don't know if Orochimaru has a personal stake in this or if they're simply for hire. Why do you think there might be a connection?" Anko asked her.

"We were attacked by a sound-nin along the way, but that was about it. Even if the Sound aren't directly involved, hearing about those horses, I just have this bad feeling they know something."

The medic's statement touched a nerve in Shikamaru, although he didn't say anything.

'The Sound are still active because Orochimaru's still around. If only I was able to stop Sasuke from reaching him, he's probably confident about destroying Konoha now that he has Sasuke.'

His thoughts only strengthened Shikamaru's resolve to make sure the mission went perfectly.

* * *

They arrived at the teahouse around lunchtime to find about a dozen chuunin and jounin lounging around and talking, maps, plans, equipment and drinks were scattered everywhere. As the others caught sight of them, numerous jounin started talking to Subatsu with deference and several of the chuunin began asking Yumi for different medicines.

"Yumi, I have a stomachache."

"Yumi can you take a look at my shoulder?"

"Does this always happen?" Shikamaru asked Roka as everyone started pestering their team medic for various aches and pains.

"You should when there are people who are really sick." Roka answered.

"Yo, Yumi-chan." Said a laid back voice.

"Kakashi-sempai! I didn't know you were here!" Yumi greeted the jounin excitedly.

"We were late because a giant magical beast stopped us along the way and we pilfered his treasure." Roka's ridiculous sounding story suggested they were both very familiar with Kakashi.

"Ah, I see you're doing well Yumi-chan. Good to see you also, Shikamaru." Kakashi looked up from his adult novel and from as best as Shikamaru could tell, seemed to be smiling under his mask.

"Why don't you two mingle with the other chuunin? I have to ask Yumi about an old personal problem." Kakashi said to Shikamaru and Roka as he pulled out his newest book, Icha Icha Passion.

* * *

"What are you doing here? Not that I mind, I thought you were in charge of a genin team." The female medic asked as they moved to a corner of the teahouse to chat.

"I was, but they're no longer my students, they've left for specialized training." He said.

"After only about a year? They must be very gifted." Said Yumi.

"I'm sure they'll make a huge impact on Konoha one day, but that's not what you really wanted to ask me about, is it?" Kakashi replied as the conversation became more serious.

"Please tell me I'm wrong, Kakashi-sempai. He didn't hurt anybody, did he?" Yumi asked.

"It's worse then you think, he's at least as powerful as me. You were right to suspect Kabuto during the chuunin exams and wise to send me that message. I'm afraid I wasn't able to stop him completely, if you hadn't warned me, it might have been far worse." Kakashi answered a horrified Yumi.

"What should I do?" she asked.

"I've warned those that need to know, so try not to tell anyone, but if there's someone who you feel may help. You will have to carefully consider if it's worth the risk of involving them. He's only lying low for now-" The jounin's warning was interrupted by a chuunin asking around for Yumi.

"Did the backup team arrive yet? Hey, Yumi-chan! Gekkou-san was looking for you!"

* * *

Shikamaru felt completely out of place although he didn't show it. Even on the warmest days in Konoha, the weather never got this hot and muggy. He had never had a mission this far from Konoha, he didn't know any of these older ninja and he was the least experienced. Roka eased his comfort level as they walked around the camp.

"I got it from the bookstore before I came." Three chuunin were looking at a book that Roka snagged as he went by them.

"Is this your girlfriend Asahi?" Roka joked as he flipped to the centerfold before tossing it back.

"Yumi's usually the one who tries to do too much at once, I didn't know you were babysitting on this mission too." Asahi answered as he pointed at Shikamaru before a pair of shadow hands wrapped around his neck.

"Knock it off, you little jerk!" he coughed out as the hands squeezed before letting go.

"I hope you fight better then you talk." Roka laughed as Shikamaru asserted himself while barely lifting a finger.

They turned and watched Yumi as she spoke with Kakashi before she quickly drew some parcels from her field medic kit and ran over to greet a chuunin with disturbingly pale-gray skin and bags under his eyes. Roka and Shikamaru looked on as the sick guy eagerly began ripping open the packages and adding them to the boiling water that he had been tending to.

"That's Gekkou Hayataru, he was the number one rookie when I graduated from the academy, used to be on my genin team, he's now the captain of his chuunin team, those jokers we met back there." Roka whispered to Shikamaru.

"I remember a Gekkou overseeing the chuunin exams. Do they all look that sickly?" Shikamaru asked.

"Yumi's always filling a prescription for at least one of them for some kind of lung or skin problem whenever she's at the hospital, she told me they're chemists, mixing things like soaps and salts for ration preservatives and inks for writing and smoke bombs. She once did a house call and nearly got sick herself with all the vats of chemicals boiling over fires late into the night, I'm surprised they don't get sick more often considering." His teammate answered as the chuunin gathered together and knelt around a table to eat dinner.

Yumi poured more herbal tea for Hayataru, who broke out into a fit of wheezing coughs before he spoke.

"Thank you for coming. My name is Gekkou Hayataru, as chuunin level captain, I am in charge of directing what all those below jounin level will do on this mission." The sickly captain rolled out a map and began to brief everyone on their specific tasks.

Author's notes: Ack, I'm turning into a writer when I wanted to be a painter! How do I know this? As soon as I wrote this chapter and went over it for spelling mistakes, the first thought I had was 'Am I a hack?'. That infamous question means I'm becoming a writer! No!

Takes in breath

Anyways, I like bats and I thought Shikamaru needed a cool summon, he's getting some other stuff later on. Koumori refers to a generic bat in Japanese and many Asian cultures associate them with good luck and longevity. Noren literally means curtain, it's the name for a specific species of bat living in Japan whose latin name is Myotis nattereri. Next part is the mission, for those of you with a need to satisfy your bloodlust.

Kuchiyose no Jutsu – Summoning Technique


	5. A Perfect Mission?

Troublesome Fate

By: Lone Ronin

Author's notes: I've done some art for this story, only pencil drafts since I really don't have the time to ink and color. You can use them if you want, but please give me credit and/or explain that it's for this story, or I'll hate you. I've posted the first of several art pieces that I've done for this story on my author's page, so go check it out.

Yumi is 16 and Roka is 17. I haven't done any art of Subatsu, but he's basically an old man of 43 who looks kind of like Raido with more scars and heavier armor on his bad arm. In response to some reviews, yes, Shikamaru strikes me as more the type to be a team player on a mission, he's only really the leader when he has to be and no, Spaz, Yumi will not interfere, unless by interfere you mean help along, hehe.

Part 4: A Perfect Mission?

The Warlord's base was a sprawling camp of camouflaged tents near a convenient source of water that flowed into a valley. Guards on horseback guarded tents full of stolen goods, supplies and hostages. Shikamaru's team waited in the brush at the edge of the camp and prepared to infiltrate the base. Looking around the area they noticed the corral that was full of the strange horses on the other side of the camp.

'So that's what they were talking about.' Shikmaru thought as he instinctively felt fear.

They didn't look like normal horses. For one thing, they had yellow eyes with no pupils and their teeth looked sharper then they should have, but the one thing Shikamaru had noticed about the horses that really frightened him was that each one had markings on their bodies that looked like the ones on the Sound Five when they went to their other forms.

Suddenly, a crow fluttered out of a nearby tree, as Hayataru and his team approached the horses, signaling the start of the mission.

* * *

Nobaru, the warlord who had come to be known as The Butcher in the lands he had acquired control of, was bored and getting impatient, waiting on the magistrates who had promised that they would be coming in to finalize negotiations. He wasn't planning on staying in this pathetic area long and terrorizing these helpless small villages and farmers, he had bigger plans for Fire Country… 

His thoughts were interrupted as his troops escorted some frightened farmers who owed him protection money into his tent and inspected the bag they presented.

"You call this a payment!" he screamed in rage, flinging the bag down in disgust.

"Forgive us please, Nobaru-sama, the rains were late this year, it's all that we have. Please, our loved ones…" one of the old farmers began to beg.

"Will have to be sold up North to make up the difference of what is owed." Nobaru cut them off.

"Up North? Where?"

"I don't know or care where the slave caravans go, they say it's towards something called 'Orochimaru', whatever that is."

"Really, now?" Anko asked as they revealed their true forms in a puff of smoke.

* * *

The chuunin and jounin had set about quietly assassinating the guards in front of the tents as they infiltrated the camp. Their main goal was to locate the hostages, they had no idea where they were because Nobaru was constantly moving supplies, equipment and hostages around his camp. They hadn't been discovered so far, but the Konoha ninjas were having a difficult time because they weren't used to the conditions in the area. The heat was sweltering, worse then even the hottest days in Konoha and their equipment and camouflage didn't help either. It was sticky and humid and there were biting insects everywhere. Roka and Shikamaru met with Subatsu and Yumi, disguised as army guards as they snuck another group of hostages from a tent. Hayataru then caught up with Shikamaru's team, wheezing and covered in blood. 

"Anko tried to assassinate Nobaru, but his guards were able to hold us off long enough for Nobaru to escape, he's still somewhere in the camp and that's not our only problem, my team is having trouble slaughtering those horses. They're proving harder to kill quietly then we expected. We need to regroup." the chuunin captain coughed out, the humidity didn't seem to be helping his throat.

"Hayataru, you sound like you could use some more of my medicine." Yumi offered as Hayataru led them to the horse stables.

"That would really help me, Yumi-chan." He answered.

Roka and Subatsu suddenly pulled Shikamaru back.

"You're not the real Hayataru! Kyouki Kuma!" Yumi suddenly slammed her naginata on the ground, releasing the chakra she had channelled through it into a powerful blast.

"I knew it was only a matter of time before I saw you again. How can you forget our sacred oath to first, do no harm, Kabuto-kun?" Yumi called out as the smoke cleared.

"Yumi-chan, you know I am Orochimaru's loyal servant first, a medic second and a ninja third." Kabuto answered as he revealed his true form.

"What do you want?" Yumi asked as the team faced off against her cousin.

"To make sure you don't get hurt." He replied.

"I find that hard to believe, considering what you did to those horses." The female medic said as she raised her naginata.

"You can't kill me, I'm stronger then your captain and your idol, Kakashi and you never will be. You can become more then you've ever dreamed of, this is your chance to save yourself, to come with me."

"Make sure nothing interferes while I fight Kabuto and don't even think of trying to take him on yourself, he's beyond your level." Subatsu instructed his team as he drew his blades.

"I remember how this mouse screamed when he died, that idiot wouldn't have even noticed him if I hadn't said anything." Kabuto said as he jumped back and performed a set of seals.

Roka tried to block the forbidden summon jutsu by making his birds weave an intricate lattice around the structure rising up from the ground, but it didn't work. Then a sword blade sliced through the coffin and the vines to reveal the temporarily reanimated body of Gekkou Hayyate. Subatsu tried to chase after Kabuto as he ran off, but Hayyate blocked their path. Shikamaru and the team prepared to fight, when the flash of another sword connected with Hayyate's.

"You killed my father! How dare you defile his soul?" Hayataru screamed at Kabuto's retreating back as Hayyate began dueling with his son.

Hayataru's team caught up and tried to help their captain, but suddenly a horde of reanimated corpses came out of the ground, complete with armor and weapons and surrounded them, separating Asahi and his teammates from their leader. Shikamaru's team instinctively tried to cover their mouths and noses as the smell of rotting meat filled the air, Shikamaru felt like he was going to retch.

"Hurry up, Roka. What are you doing?" Subatsu ordered as he cut some of the corpses down with his katana blades.

"I'm on it." Roka answered as he summoned more vines to form a temporary barrier against the horde when the ground seemed to become quicksand right under them.

"No, don't do that, I know what Kabuto can do and this is no genjutsu." Yumi stopped Shikamaru and Roka as they prepared to cut themselves and break what they thought was just an illusion.

"This is for real? How strong is he?" Shikamaru asked as they leapt into the vines.

"I don't know." Yumi answered.

"There's got to be something we can do." Roka replied as he whipped out a kunai and wrapped an explosive note around it before hurling it into the chest of a corpse.

It blew the body apart, but some of the pieces hit Roka's vines, causing them to rot and fall apart wherever they splattered.

"Don't let them touch you, even pieces of it will suck the life out of you." Kakashi's dog Pakkun called out as he suddenly appeared from the brush and dashed up the network of vines to the team.

"Pakkun, what's going on?" Roka asked.

"The Sound are more involved in this then we initially thought, they were likely Nobaru's main supply line. Kabuto has raised the corpses of humans and was experimenting on those horses, this whole camp is a death trap. Subatsu, Kakashi is tracking Kabuto, he wants your help, the rest of you have to hold off the bodies or they'll follow and slow us down." Pakkun replied.

"Wait, how do we fight those things?" Yumi asked.

"Don't waste your chakra on the bodies themselves, focus on Hayyate's body, that's the source. Use techniques to freeze, burn or shatter the corpses so he can't reanimate them, physical attacks are useless. Touching them will burn a hole through your hand at any rate." Subatsu advised them.

"Take the scroll in my bag and use it carefully, Kakashi only had time to prepare one. It will stop Hayyate and the corpses should stop with it, but you have to use the scroll within 2 meters of him, or it won't work." Pakkun let Shikamaru take the parcel on his back before Roka opened the vines to let Subatsu and Pakkun out while they fought Kabuto's undead army.

Yumi's Katon no Jutsu easily burned down large groups of the corpses, but more simply came up out of the ground, making it impossible for Hayataru's team to help them or their captain. When she finally managed to get near enough to perform it on Hayyate, he performed a spinning move similar to Neji's Hakkeshou: Kaiten and deflected it. Hayataru charged his father again with his sword raised, when a well-thrown weapon from a corpse cut through his ankle, crippling him, followed by another through his hand, stopping him from performing any hand seals. Shikamaru grabbed Hayataru's shadow and threw him backwards just in time to avoid the worst of Hayyate's attack, but even with the protection of his flak jacket, the sickly chuunin captain was slashed deep and left streaming blood.

"These reanimated corpses are everywhere and they're getting smarter by the minute! Can't you used Kage Mane no Jutsu?" Roka asked Shikamaru, using his whip to break apart as many bodies as he could.

"My shadow just goes through tem, it only works on living things." Shikamaru replied as they did their best to hold off the corpses while Yumi dragged Hayataru towards their group and stabilized him.

Roka tried to attack Hayyate with his summoned vines and crows, but Hayyate's spinning move just knocked the birds back and cut the vines down. He used more vines to make a barrier to hold the onslaught back, but it was only stalling for time.

"I don't think I have enough chakra to do that again. If we could just stop Hayyate from using that spinning move, we'd be able to get him. What are you doing?" Roka asked Shikamaru as he pressed the tips of his fingers together for a moment, then checked his equipment.

"Yumi, can you perform Katon no Jutsu again?" he asked.

"Maybe a couple more times." She answered.

"Then try to get him to spin again, I have a way to stop him. Both of you give me all your trap wire and any kunai that you can spare. Roka, take your vines down, but get ready to bring some back up again."

Roka pulled his vines down while Yumi sent our Katon no Jutsu. As Hayyate deflected the move, Shikamaru threw several strings of kunai with trap wire attached to them. Hayyate's spin to began to take up the slack wire he let out, forcing him to stop and cut through the web of wire to free himself. Roka finally managed to grab Hayyate's foot with a vine and Shikamaru activated the scroll. As the reanimated corpses stopped and Hayyate's body again became ashes, the body that was originally sacrificed for the jutsu was revealed. It was that of the sound-nin that Shikamaru's chuunin team had defeated during their trip to the rendezvous point.

* * *

"This whole place reeks of death." Pakkun said as he led Subatsu. 

"Hey, old man." Kakashi greeted.

"I'm only three years older then you and you know it." Subatsu's customary answer assured them both that each one was who they claimed to be.

Neither of them spoke afterwards, their years of experience in tracking and knowing how each of them operated meant no words were needed as they did their work. Kabuto tried every effort to lose them, knowing he didn't have a chance if they both caught him. Just when they thought they had Kabuto, Kakashi finally saw the red herring as the body fell over, revealing Kabuto's skill at altering a freshly killed body to look like his own.

"He's getting better at reanimating these corpses." Kakashi mused as the entire herd of horses Kabuto had been experimenting on ambushed them.

'I thought Hayataru's team killed them, looks like he was able to evade us with another prepared body and reanimate those as well, smart guy.' Subatsu thought as they prepared to fight.

* * *

"My teammates, are they all right?" Hayataru groaned through the pain of his wounds. 

"Sh, don't talk, relax, they went on ahead to help Anko." Yumi said as she continued to treat him.

"The wound is deep and the Achilles' tendon in his ankle was severed, this should help, you should recover enough to move in about an hour but you have to get more treatment back in Konoha. It will take about a month for everything to completely heal." she cleaned and bandaged him before performing Chiyute no Jutsu.

"We need a spot to hide him until the fight is over."

"My crows are saying that the others have killed Nobaru and the horses, most of the soldiers too, but some of his followers are still alive. They've got a hostage situation not far from here." He quickly translated the cawing noises going on overhead.

As they dragged Hayataru through the camp, they pulled open a nearby tent and found some stolen goods, such as cloth, glazed pottery and huge jars of expensive plant oils and products from the livestock that the villagers raised.

"We can hide him here for now." Roka quickly pulled a blanket over Hayataru and instructed a crow to watch over the tent before asking another bird about the situation.

"Most of the hostages are safe but there's one last pocket of resistance that Anko's dealing with, they have a hostage in a standoff. Yumi could stay with Hayataru while we deal help the others, the only problem is our side is looking pretty worn down, we might be in for a bad fight and I'm low on chakra."

"Wait, I have an idea." Shikamaru cut in.

* * *

"Now calm down, your leader's gone and you're surrounded, you can't hold her forever. What good will it do if you hurt her? Nobaru's gone now." Anko spoke calmly to the soldier as he held a dagger to his young hostage. 

"I don't believe you, even if you are telling the truth, I don't have anything to lose. Nobaru-sama saved me from starving when my own village threw me out." The foot soldier looked like he was trying to pull the dagger closer to the girl's throat, when he suddenly found himself unable to move.

"I've got him, do it now!" Shikamaru pinned the mercenary's shadow and pulled the weapon out to a safe distance as Roka dashed in and scooped up the young girl before sticking an explosive note on the thug's chest.

Roka's crows suddenly flew over the last of the resistance, throwing clay pots full of flaming oil that Yumi had set ablaze. By now the enemy's base was in ruins, with most of Nobaru's troops either gone, cut down or unable to fight while the Konoha shinobi had minor injuries as they destroyed equipment and captured commanders for interrogation later on.

"Shikamaru, that idea of yours was so wild, devious and destructive, I'm upset I didn't think of it." Roka complained from his vantage point as they watched the chaos.

"I guess I'll take that as a compliment." Was all Shikamaru could think to answer as he held what was left of Nobaru's followers with his shadow, allowing the other chuunin and jounin to make short work of their enemies.

* * *

The mission had gone better then they had hoped. They hadn't lost a single hostage and all the warlord's horses and troops were either dead or captured while their team had not lost a single shinobi and with the exception of Hayataru, no one had very serious injuries. The few hired Sound-nin at the camp and the mercenaries that Nobaru had hired and made most of his forces had not been more skilled at brute force then at guerilla warfare and had been easily overpowered by ninjutsu. The only real failure of the mission was that Kabuto had managed to get away again, despite Kakashi's tracking abilities and Subatsu's field experience. They finally reappeared, covered in blood and filth with Subatsu limping slightly. 

The only things that remained to finish the operations were to escort the freed hostages to their hometowns and pack up. Most of the villages were small clusters of huts where farmers and shepherds lived with little more then a wall around them for protection. Anko and Hayataru entered the elder's hut of the last village where they needed to return villagers and collect their payment.

"Thank you so much for returning our people and most of our property. But we do have one more problem we were hoping you could take care of for us." The village elder said as he handed over the money that the villages with kidnapped inhabitants had pooled in order to pay Konoha for the rescue.

"Something has been eating our livestock, we've lost a quarter of our sheep and cows. We recently tried arming our shepherds but they've been disappearing too. I know that you've already done so much for us, but we're getting desperate. Can you please find out what's doing this?" he requested.

"A few of our men were injured and we're rather tired, we'll need a moment to discuss this." Anko replied as they took their leave and left the elder's house to explain what had happened to the other chuunin and jounin teams.

* * *

While they waited on Hayataru and Anko to finish speaking with the elder, the shinobi quietly chatted with each other and the villagers. Yumi took the opportunity and secretly spoke with Shikamaru. 

"Shikamaru-kun, I have to ask you something about your mission when you went to get Sasuke back." The medic asked him.

"What is it?"

"Was Kabuto involved in it in any way? Did you see him there at all?"

"No."

Shikamaru told Yumi everything he knew about Sasuke and about what had happened during his mission to get back him from the Sound Five, before Yumi told him what she knew.

"…then the Sand-nin took us back to Konoha. I don't know if Sasuke's alive, I don't even know why he went to Orochimaru in the first place." He finished his story.

"I need to warn you to watch out for my cousin, Kabuto. He's loyal to Orochimaru and he's not going to stop until Konoha's destroyed. I suspected that he was the one who developed all those seals that you described on those Sound Five, those horses just confirmed it. Beyond that, he'll probably be keeping an eye on you and your friends, since you all came so close to stopping him from getting Sasuke." Yumi warned him.

"Can you tell me what you know about him?"

"My uncle found Kabuto on a mission and adopted him when he was really young, he was like an older brother to me. He kept failing the chuunin exam, but my aunt kept forcing him to take it because she wanted him to be a successful ninja."

"So why does she hate you so much?" Shikamaru listened carefully, realizing there was a whole aspect.

"She was jealous of my parents because I passed the chuunin exam on my second try while I was training at the same time to be a medic, but he kept failing it. But I think the main reason that she really hates me is that he sent a raptor with a message only to me while I was away on a mission and you were both taking the chuunin exam. It said that he was leaving Konoha because he felt that I was the only one who really loved him, that he felt leaving would help me become a better ninja and that he was going to go reach his true potential."

"What did he mean by that?"

"Kabuto was very gifted and trained to be a medic from a young age, but there was a controversial incident that ended his career. A very young girl became sick with a mysterious illness; nothing the medics did seemed to help. So Kabuto secretly began an elaborate research project, but partway into his work, the girl died. When he announced that he had developed a powerful jutsu that could reanimate the dead girl's body, the medics felt that this knowledge was too dangerous and secretly banned him from practicing as a medic, but still allowed him to be a shinobi. Kabuto was angry, he felt that the officials didn't understand what it meant to be a field medic, we constantly tread a fine line between dealing life with one hand and destroying it with the other."

"So he felt that he had been treated unfairly."

"Exactly. The very laws and system that governed Konoha, he viewed as a barrier to what he could really become. After he was disciplined, he started acting strange, training at odd hours and helping his team moving parcels around. When I got that last message from him, I finally put all the signals together and I had one of Roka's birds send a message to Kakashi-sempai, he's been a close friend of my parents for many years. I told him that I was worried and asked him to keep an eye on Kabuto, but I didn't realize that anything was really wrong until it was too late. I guess in the end he decided that sacrificing everything he valued and everyone he cared about was worth the power Orochimaru promised him. I imagine that's what happened with Sasuke too."

As Yumi finished telling Shikamaru about how Kabuto had betrayed Konoha, Hayataru and Anko appeared and began gathering the Leaf ninjas to discuss if they should look into the elder's request.

* * *

"I don't think we should be looking at this, it's probably just wolves or some other predator, it's a trapper's problem." Anko was reluctant to have to go from an important strategic military operation to investigating some lost livestock, especially since they probably wouldn't get paid much for it, she would have a lot of paperwork to take care of as the mission hadn't been preapproved and formally issued and they had to deal with their injured team members. 

"Even if it's not a shinobi's problem, it would make for a courtesy to at least send a few of us to look into it. Perhaps Roka could just use his birds to cover a wide area?" Hayataru suggested with a cough that seemed to be lessening a bit.

'Don't take the mission, don't take the mission.' Shikamaru pleaded mentally.

"My team came later and none of us were injured, how would you all feel if we investigated while everyone else went back to the post town?" Subatsu asked his charges.

"I'm sure my birds could find out before we even lifted a finger." Roku was still riding on the confidence of their last mission and felt certain that they wouldn't run into trouble.

"Shikamaru?" Subatsu asked with a 'you-better-not-say-it's-troublesome-before-I-give-you-hell' look.

"Shouldn't Yumi deal with our casualties?" came his excuse as he hoped in his mind that Yumi would agree with him.

"I've stabilized Hayataru and the others enough that they can go back to Tanaka without a problem." Too bad for Shikamaru his team's medic was happy to go investigate.

"How troublesome." Shikamaru muttered under his breath.

"I heard that!" Subatsu snapped.

* * *

"You may have done fine as a genin, but you're a chuunin now and you're expected to be at the next level. You're training to your full potential as soon as we get back from this mission." Subatsu admonished as they leapt through the trees. 

Well, if there was one think that Shikamaru could say was going wrong, it was that his captain really was, as Asuma put it, a slave driver.

"Don't take it personally, he was harsh with us when we first got him too." Roka told Shikamaru.

"This guy's worse then my mom."

"Well, he hasn't threatened to pour water on your head yet." Yumi answered.

"You think you have it bad? My mom throws things." Said Roka.

It was decided in the end that Subatsu's team would remain behind and that they would meet up with other teams at the post town once they had figured out what was wrong. They began their search by making their way towards the fields in the valley where the villagers had reported they had last seen their shepherds and their livestock before they disappeared when a bunch of birds in the distance began flying up into the air. Hawks, gulls, sparrows and all kinds of songbirds circled and cried out over some kind of conflict in an old abandoned quarry in the distance.

"Can you understand what they're saying?" Subatsu asked Roka.

"They have funny accents and what they're saying doesn't seem to make a lot of sense. Some gibberish about their nests and humans, something about bad chakra, they're going on about a giant snake." Roka didn't think it meant anything, most wild birds he had spoken to were pretty stupid and said a lot of nonsense, but the words 'giant snake' grabbed Subatsu's attention.

"What kind of giant snake? How large is it? Does it have a gash under it's right eye? Is there more then one?" The captain demanded to know.

"I know you're thinking that snakes mean Orochimaru, but the birds say a lot of dumb nonsense, any snake that's bigger then them is considered giant. Wait, they're going on with some strange stuff about it sprouting another head and cheering for humans to kill it." Roka's reply sent Subatsu into full fighting mode as he stepped up his pace and drew his weapons.

"Do you think the humans those birds are going on about are the other teams?" Yumi wondered as the rest of the team drew their weapons.

"No, Kakashi would have sent one of his dogs to tell us there was a problem. Listen to me carefully and follow my instructions. I once fought these creatures in my youth; these snakes are servants of Orochimaru and they're extremely dangerous. Whatever you do, don't use taijutsu, it will only make them stronger."

Author's notes: Contrary to popular belief, "First, do no harm" is not a part of the Hippocratic oath, but it is very similar to how Yumi describes the oath of Konoha's medics and every modern medical school makes its students swear to some form of it upon graduation.

Kyouki Kuma - A move I made up, it translates to Deadly Weapon of the Bear; charka is channelled through a weapon to increase its damage. A bladed weapon can cut things with charka that extends beyond the weapon's physical blade. It can also release the charka in an explosion when the weapon is struck against something that can also generate enough force to knock opponents back.

Hakkeshou: Kaiten -Hand of the Eight Divinations: Heavenly Spin


	6. Orochi

Troublesome Fate

By: Lone Ronin

Author's Notes: Ah, an update at last. I've been writing bits of this in between school, the next chapter will be longer. This part of the story shifts back a few days to Neji, there will be NejiShika in the next chapter, I swear. I've also added in some KotetsuIzumo and KakashiIruka for you guys as well, but they don't really major in the story.

Part 5: Orochi

While Shikamaru worked on him mission abroad, life went on back in Konoha. Sakura worked on her latest exercise as Tsunade spoke with Kotetsu and Izumo about the most recent set of paperwork that had come in.

"Demonic horses, sightings of dead relatives and now talking snake like creatures? These reports read like the writers were on drugs."

"Everyone keeps assuring us that they're true." Kotetsu replied.

"And the teeth and claw marks shown in injuries and on damaged equipment seem to match their stories." Izumo added.

The sannin massaged her temples in frustration. She really needed a drink of sake. Who knew that being Hokage required so much paperwork?

"Anyways, these mission reports have been reviewed, these proposals are approved and these are ready for filing." Tsunade handed them a large stack of completed documents.

Seeing the look on Tsunade's face as Shizune entered with a new stack of papers for her to deal with, Kotetsu and Izumo decided it was best to leave. They paused outside the Hokage's office, watching the storm clouds in the distance blowing in from the warm south.

"Looks like the rainy season is coming early this year, they said it's going to be a heavy one."

"Great, paperwork on flooding, that's just what we need. Hope the dikes hold better this year, I could really use a break." Kotetsu sighed.

"You know, we could, relax over at my place for a bit." Izumo said with a wink.

"But we always go over to your place. Why can't we go to my place?"

"Remember how we got caught? Your little brother said it was the funniest thing he had ever seen."

"Relax, Roka left for his mission the other day, he won't be back for at least a couple days. Hope he doesn't get caught in the rain."

* * *

At the estate of the oldest and most powerful family of Konoha, Hyuuga Norima, a Branch Family member, entered the meeting room and bowed to Hiashi. She was rosy and middle-aged, with a plump, motherly figure and gentle personality. Although she was a very distant relative of the Main House, her warmth and keen sense of observation made her well liked and allowed her to serve as a peacekeeper for the Main and Branch families, settling disputes or speaking on a Branch member's behalf. 

The Hyuuga estate was in some ways a separate world from Konoha society that wasn't about to let reality and change overtake their traditions, so it was expected that disputes and concerns involving Branch family members had to be discussed between the heads of the Branch and Main House.

"You sent for me, Hiashi-sama?" Norima said though she knew perfectly well what he wanted.

"Some of the other Branch House members have told me about your concern for my nephew. Why do you think that something is wrong with Neji?" Hiashi questioned her.

"He has been behaving rather erratically, Hiashi-sama."

"How so?"

"Ever since he came back from the hospital, he's been training almost obsessively, even for him. When he's not training, he's restless and pacing, I can't help but think of that time I saw a panther they once caught up in the mountains and held in a cage, he reminds me of that. He won't sleep in his room anymore, he says it's too hot at night, he's dragged his futon out to the covered wooden landing at the edge of the inner courtyard, and he sleeps there even when it's pouring rain just a few feet away. He used to sleep like the dead before he took the chuunin exams, but when I passed by him to get a drink of water the other night, he was tossing and turning in his sleep like he was having a nightmare." She recalled.

"I've seen this before, it's a phase some young men go through, where they're restless and don't know what they want." Hiashi didn't seem that concerned, recalling his own personal 'phase'.

"My sons never went through such a phase when they were growing up." Norima wasn't sure what to make of it.

"Neji is different from most of the Branch House, I've treated him more in some ways as a son rather then as a Branch House Member." Hiashi answered as he left to train Neji.

After a moment of thought, Norima realized that it was true. Even though Neji was technically a Branch House member, Hiashi had been very close to his brother, Neji's father. As Hiashi's nephew and a prodigy of the bloodline ability, Neji enjoyed privileges that other Branch members didn't, so he seemed to be considered something in between the Main and Branch, not really one or the other. A Branch House member was too busy working and serving the Main House, most of them didn't train to be shinobi and accepted their lot. The older Branch members accepted their life quietly, but Neji was different, he felt trapped by the rules of the Hyuuga, he was a young man struggling to find himself.

Norima didn't quite understand it, but it seemed that the chuunin exam had changed him. Before entering, Neji seemed to have quietly accepted the rules of the Main and Branch families, hiding his unhappiness in a quiet and sullen sort of anger. But the exam seemed to fuel his desire for more out of life; he was still quiet, but he no longer seemed sullen or angry, instead he seemed focused on something. It both pleased and worried Norima at the same time.

'I know you want something more then what most Branch Members get out of life, Neji-kun, I'm happy for you, but be careful.' Norima thought as she watched him train.

* * *

While Shikamaru had to deal with a lot of external changes to his life, the changes to the rhythms of Neji's life were coming from within. 

'There's always room for me to go further, I have to reach that level.' Neji thought as he sparred and trained with Hiashi.

Fully recovered and out of the hospital, he was pushing his limits at every spare moment he had, it was even starting to exhaust his uncle.

"Neji, let's rest a bit." Hiashi said as he went inside for a moment to speak with a Branch House member.

"The tea is ready." Hinata called to Neji as she came out to the courtyard with cups and a teapot.

"I'm going on a mission soon." Hinata added as her father and cousin each picked up a cup.

"Don't get in anyone's way." Hiashi answered as he went inside with his drink.

Neji's mind felt clearer then ever as he looked at his cousin for the first time in his life without hatred in his heart. It had taken a beating at the chuunin exams, a revelation about his father and a near death experience during a crucial mission to make him reexamine everything that he thought he had known.

"Hinata-sama, I'm sorry, for what I did at the chuunin exams, I regret that I tried to kill you." Neji said to Hinata, in his usual flat tone, only saying what was necessary.

Hinata was too shocked to answer, but the way that she pressed her lips together showed that she wasn't completely sure if he was sincere.

"I directed my anger towards you, because of the hatred I felt for the Main House, I didn't hold back because I thought for certain you would use the cursed seal, why didn't you?" he continued.

"I wanted to fight you as another shinobi, not as a member of the Main House of Hyuuga." Hinata answered quietly before she left with her teammates for their latest mission, leaving Neji by himself.

* * *

"This is a B rank mission…" 

Neji barely paid attention to the briefing as, his thoughts turned to his own personal desires.

"…we need you to investigate the following coordinates in the Southeast of Fire Country. There are all these reports of the strangest creatures down there…"

He remembered when he had first graduated from the academy when Gai had asked his team what they dreamed of. He didn't want to answer, since there really was no way around the fact that he would have to be a servant to the Main branch when he became older. He hated being controlled more then anything else and there seemed to be no way to get around it.

"When I become Hokage, I will change the rules of the Hyuuga clan." He recalled Naruto's promise from the exam.

Maybe it would happen one day, but he knew Naruto had left Konoha with Jiriaiya, the legendary sannin himself and he couldn't wait that long, maybe and one day wasn't good enough for him. He wasn't surly about it anymore, but he wasn't ready to accept it.

That was when he decided to run away.

He didn't quite know where he was going to run to, he wasn't quite sure where to go and he really didn't care. He did still plan to return to Konoha one day, he just needed a change for a bit and maybe to explore the countryside while he was still young.

He had put his plan into motion during his hospital stay, when he had learned that one of the medic's parents ran the bookstore. He had been able to borrow as many books as he could, books he would have never been allowed to look at in his home with no questions asked, such as maps and geography. He even secretly hoarded the medicines that he had been given, hoping to use them later. Memorizing the maps and learning as much as he could, he planned to run away next time a mission took him outside the village for more then a day. He had planned everything perfectly, it seemed like nothing could go wrong, but he knew there was always something that he could have overlooked.

"…kill and bring back a specimen if you can. We just need to see what some of these things are like. There are other Konoha ninjas running missions in those areas as well, so feel free to ask for or offer assistance if its needed. We don't know what your odds of finding it are, but with Neji's Byakugan and you team's excellent mission record, we estimate it will probably take about a week."

Although he seemed to be his usual quiet self on the outside, Neji secretly felt delighted hearing just how far and how long they were going to be from Fire Country, it was the perfect chance.

* * *

For several days, the mission went on without incident as they explored the dense, humid jungles of Southern Fire country when the animals suddenly fell quiet as they entered an old abandoned quarry and a strange fog seemed to fill the area. The humid tropical climate suddenly became cold and dry to the point that they could see their breath. Realizing something was stalking them, they drew their weapons. 

Something made Neji draw in his breath sharply, as if an invisible hand had grabbed his heart and squeezed it hard. He felt a strange, almost overwhelming sense of panic for no apparent reason. His heart was racing and he broke out into a sweat despite the chilly climate. Seeing the rest of his team affected in the same way, Neji quickly activated his Byakugan. Although the fog limited his vision, he still managed to see the monster in time.

The giant snake charged the group, trapping them in the lower part of the quarry where the loose gravel made it difficult to walk but were perfect for slithering. A person without ninjutsu training would have been paralyzed with fear, but the team stood their ground. Gai kicked and punched the creature but all he did was knock the snake around and enrage it. The snake tried to bite Tenten as she unfurled a scroll and quickly thrust a sword into its mouth, cutting it from the inside out, before it healed again.

Lee took off his weights and struck with enough force and speed to shear off the snake's head with a flying kick. At first the snake seemed dead, its body writhing on the ground next to the twitching jaws, but then the pieces fused back together, this time stronger, faster and with an extra head. Gai, Lee and Neji tried plastering the monster with explosive notes, but it simply healed whenever the notes blew another chunk off its thick hide.

Neji performed Hakkeshou: Rokajuu Yonshou, striking at the heads as they charged, only to find that although he could see the creature's chakra system, with the white fog interfering his Jyuken wasn't effective enough to penetrate its tough scales. He could knock the heads back, but it didn't seem to damage them.

Tenten performed Soushouryu, sending a flurry of weapons at the snake. Some weapons simply bounced off the thick scales while a few larger and sharper ones lodged deep into the skin, but the snake was still able to attack. She quickly threaded her charka to grab the weapons with Ningyoushibai no Koutetsu and showered them down, shredding the snake to bits. But in a matter of seconds, the snake had just reassembled itself again with three heads.

The struggle continued, the creature seemed to be waiting for them to run out of weapons and tire out as it simply grew more powerful and gained more heads when cut apart, when suddenly a set of vines began pulling the snake far into the woods, towards a large river. Neji peered through the fog to see a rather skinny Leaf shinobi with straggly haircut, who looked like he had been roughed up a bit in a previous fight and was now tired and struggling to manipulate the vines.

The snake resisted the vines hard, snapping its jaws and writhing against its bonds. It snapped through some of the plants before a pair of shadow hands joined the vines and dragged the snake into the river. Neji saw Shikamaru, followed by an older scarred shinobi and a female with a medic uniform under her flak jacket jump into the water as the creature continued struggling and thrashing in the water. The snake suddenly broke free and tried to swallow them, but what it thought was prey had actually been decoys covered in explosive tags. The bulge traveled down the snake's throat for a few seconds before rapidly expanding, blowing it apart from the inside out.

"We got lucky, catching him off guard like that. I don't believe it, that was Orochi himself." Subatsu muttered from their hiding spot as he propped himself up on his hands on his knees.

"Did we get it all?" Roka asked as Yumi and Shikamaru supported Subatsu, the captain heaving and tired from age.

Tenten suddenly turned just in time to jam a weapon into the snapping jaws of one of the creature's severed heads. Neji lashed out with Jyuken, sending the head into the river by barely brushing it with his palm. Everyone watched wearily as the river ran red with blood, the river current carrying the pieces away before the snake could come back together.

Author's Notes: Orochi is a 9 headed demon snake from Japanese mythology. I combined it with idea of the hydra, where cutting off a head causes more to sprout.

Hakkeshou: Kaiten - Hand of the Eight Divinations: Heavenly Spin

Hakkeshou: Rokajuu Yonshou - Hand of the Eight Divinations: Sixty-four Palms

Ningyoushibai no Koutetsu - Steel Puppet Show

Soushouryu - Rising Twin Dragons


	7. Casting Light on Darkness

Troublesome Fate

By: Lone Ronin

Author's Notes: Here it is, the first taste of NejiShika, as well as the backgrounds of various characters revealed through strategically placed dreams and flashbacks, heh.

Part 6: Casting Light on Darkness

"It's gone." Neji finally said as he tracked the movements of the pieces down the river with his Byukugan.

"For now it is, it's possible to summon him again though, with the right knowledge." Subatsu explained as the teams regrouped.

"Subatsu-sensei!" Gai greeted his former teacher with an excited bear hug.

"It's good to see you again, Gai. I'm glad you're doing well." The old veteran choked out.

"I thought the skill of my team would be enough to kill that creature, but it wasn't enough, Teacher. I'm glad to see you're still passing your knowledge on to others, you're still youthful at heart!"

"This guy's really, really weird." Roka whispered to Yumi.

"Don't be hard on yourself Gai, it's more a matter of knowing how to fight it then a matter of skill." His old teach reassured him.

"You trained Gai-sensei? That's amazing!" Lee seemed just as happy as Gai to meet Subatsu.

"It's good to meet you." Tenten said with a respectful bow.

"Thank you, your weaponry skills are quite impressive." Tenten blushed at his compliment before the old veteran turned to Neji.

"You're Hizashi's son."

"Yes, I saw you at my father's funeral." Neji said quietly.

'He is very much like Hizashi.' Subatsu felt his age catching up to him as he recalled all those years ago as a jounin teacher when he first took the sullen Hizashi and his brash twin brother Hiashi on as genin students.

* * *

Subatsu had trained many skilled shinobi in his time. It was almost twenty-five years ago that he first became a jounin teacher to his first genin team.12 year old Hizashi and Gai sparred as young academy graduates while Hiazshi's twin brother Hiashi looked on. Despite a valiant effort, Hizashi beat poor Gai into submission. 

"I don't know why you waste your time, when you can't even use the most basic ninjutsu or genjutsu. How do you even think you could ever beat me if you can't even beat my younger brother?" Hiashi berated Gai.

"I'm going to go train more." Gai said dejectedly as he went off.

"I don't know why we got stuck with such a loser, he doesn't deserve to be called a shinobi." Hiashi remarked.

"Who do you think you are, Hyuuga Hiashi?" Subatsu cut in angrily as he finally arrived to start the lesson.

"I don't tolerate that kind of talk from anyone and I won't put up with my students treating their team members that way. Gai studied hard and graduated at the top of his class in the academy, he has just as much right to wear that hitai-ate and be on a team as you do." The jounin reprimanded.

"Who cares what marks he got at the academy? Being able to memorize every hand seal and jutsu type is no good to you if you can't use chakra. All that matters is how well you fight and do missions." Hiashi replied.

"Knowing the basics and understanding how your enemy fights is an important factor in combat." Subatsu replied.

"I can take down anyone in combat without using a single hand seal." Hiashi responded as he charged his teacher.

Hizashi looked on quietly as Subatsu dodged Hiashi's assault, gracefully twirling and jumping as he remained just out range of his Jyuken, then trapped him in a web of trap wire, adding insult to injury by hog tying Hiashi's hands to his ankles and stringing him up so he dangled at eye level from a tree.

"Consider this an important lesson for today. The Hyuuga clan is well known for their Jyuken. I knew the first thing you would rely on would be your bloodline ability and I know that the basic jutsus related to it have a short range. Life isn't what you get, it's what you make of it. You had better improve your attitude and be more respectful of your teammates in the future." Subatsu reprimanded his arrogant young charge.

Hizashi helped free his older brother as Subatsu left to speak to Gai, Hiashi spitting and snarling insults at his teacher's back the entire time.

"Don't let the Hyuuga twins get you down Gai-kun, the Main and Branch Houses of Hyuuga tend to think that they are better then others, since they and the Uchicha are one of the last noble houses left in Konoha."

"But how can I be a good ninja when I can hardly use any ninjutsu or genjutsu? I feel like I have to train ten times more then everyone else to be just as good." Gai answered stopped striking at the practice dummy and turned to his teacher.

Subatsu sat down next to his student and ran a hand through his hair, pushing it back to reveal his features, youthful and unscarred at that time.

"Gai-kun, let me tell you a story. I traveled to many different places in a lot of missions before I became a jounin. In one city, I saw a track where they have races with special dogs that run very fast, people would bet huge fortunes on the outcome of a single race. In order to make sure the dogs stay focused and motivated and run their hardest to the finish line, they use a special trick. They run a lure in front of the dog, that's always just out of reach. So if you always set a small goal just out of your reach, you'll always do your best until you see the finish line."

"I have a goal, but everyone laughs at me when I say what it is."

"You can tell me, I promise I won't laugh."

"I want to be better then Hatake Kakashi."

"You mean Kakashi the genius copy ninja, who trained under Yondaime, knows a thousand different jutsus and became a chuunin at the age of nine?" Subatsu asked, knowing the various titles that everyone called his friend by.

"Yes." Gai answered with a sad look, expecting his teacher to laugh like everyone else.

"Well, it doesn't matter if people laugh, does it? If you set a small goal for yourself every day, like trying to do fifty laps in a single training session, one day you'll reach your goal."

"Everyone says Kakashi is invincible."

"Kakashi is a good friend of mine, but he's still human, no one is invincible. Being able to beat him would make you an excellent ninja."

"You really think I can do it?" his face lit up.

"You can do anything if you put your mind to it." Subatsu's faith in him made Gai was so happy that tears started to stream down his face.

"You're the first person who thought I could do it and didn't laugh! I promise I'll train my hardest and I won't let you down!" Gai swept his teacher up in a bear hug.

* * *

The two teams made their way back to the post town they had originally met Anko in to rest with the other teams before the last part of the trip back to Konoha. Hours of asking and bartering around the hotels had turned up accommodations for the entire group. Everyone got ready for a much-needed bath, unaware they were being watched. 

"Hee hee, there's some pretty girls in Tanaka today." Jiraiya the legendary sannin giggled to himself as he watched the girls going into the change rooms at the bathhouse through his telescope.

"Come on, Perverted Hermit. You promised you would help me work on my genjutsu dispel in five minutes, that was nearly an hour ago. You've been looking at girls all day." Naruto complained.

"Yes, but some really pretty girls ones just came into to take a bath. Why don't you go off and train by yourself for a bit?" Jiraiya rudely waved Naruto off before he turned back.

'I'll teach you a lesson.' Naruto thought as he transformed into a girl.

* * *

Shikamaru was just about to head for the bath when he heard a scream coming from the girl's changing area. 

"There's a Peeping Tom up there!" a girl's voice screamed out before a mob of angry girls began chasing an old man with long white hair.

"Naruto!" Shikamaru recognized his old friend's favorite academy prank as a blonde girl with long hair broke off from the crowd with a smug smile.

"That'll teach the Perverted Hermit to go around peeking." Naruto laughed as he changed back to his normal form in a puff of smoke.

"I didn't know you were traveling too, Shika-kun."

He looked different from before. A little older in some ways with a new set of clothes, but it was still him. Yumi broke off from the mob and turned back to her teammate as Naruto chatted with his Shikamaru.

"I remember you, I helped bandage you at the hospital, I didn't know you were a friend of Shikamaru. Wow, you healed fast." The medic recognized Naruto and started pulling up the sleeves on his new outfit, amazed that there wasn't even a scar on him.

"Quit it, I'm perfectly fine! You picked a pretty weird girl to date, Shika, even for you." Naruto joked.

"Very funny. What are you doing here Naruto?" Shikamaru asked.

"Old Lady Tsunade put me on a long term mission but right now I'm looking for Perverted Hermit, he keeps promising to train me more, but whenever we get to a town he keeps sneaking off to look at more girls." Naruto pouted.

"You know, besides the fact that he is Jiraiya the legendary sannin, you really should have more respect your teacher that you're traveling with."

"No, he's right Shikamaru, that guy is a Perverted Hermit. After they treated your friends, he kept hitting on the nurses and female doctors before he left the hospital with Naruto, then in the bath houses, my best friend caught the dirty old bastard drilling a peep hole-" Yumi was about to launch into a laundry list of Jiraiya's misdeeds, when Hayataru approached the group.

"There you are, Yumi-chan, do you have any more oil of sweetflower for my throat?" he asked with a cough.

"It's in my large bag in my room. I'll meet you back at the hotel, Shika." Yumi turned to leave.

"If the other girls catch the Perverted Hermit, give him a kick for me." She added in a whisper before going with Hayataru, leaving Naruto and Shikamaru to talk.

"When are you coming back to Konoha?" Shikamaru asked Naruto.

"I don't know. I can't tell you about the mission, but it's going to take a long time."

"Naruto, since we might not see each other again for a while, I just wanted to say that I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"The mission to get back Sasuke."

"Don't blame yourself for it, at least you got everyone else back okay." Naruto replied.

"Except Sasuke."

"I'll get him back."

"Sasuke's probably dead." Shikamaru said, trying to keep his voice down.

"No, he's alive." Naruto insisted stubbornly.

"How do you know?"

"Orochimaru promised Sasuke power, but he really wants Sasuke's body as a container. He can only perform the jutsu to do it every three years and he changed bodies before Sasuke reached him, there's still time, I've got another chance to get him back." The pain on Naruto's face at the mention of his old teammate told Shikamaru not to press him any further on the subject.

After he asked about how Kakashi, Iruka, Konohamaru, Sakura and the others were doing, Naruto ran off after his teacher, saying his goodbyes to Shikamaru.

"I'll get Sasuke back and then defeat Orochimaru! But first I have to find Perverted Hermit."

'So, Sasuke's probably still alive, something tells me Orochimaru isn't just going to sit around and do nothing for three years.' Shikamaru thought as he watched Naruto run off.

* * *

Shikamaru got back to the hotel after the girls abandoned their chase of the peeper as everyone started settling in for the night. 

"Hey, old man." Kakashi spoke with Subatsu as sat in the crowded public bath, watching the younger shinobi bickering over towels and spots in the water.

"I'm only three years older then you and you know it." Subatsu replied as Kakashi sat next to him in the hot water.

"Thanks, for helping me with those creatures. I'm sorry I had that lapse back there, there's only so much a medic can do about it, you know. You should have left me behind, we almost had him." He continued.

"I've got my own set of chronic problems and I never leave anyone behind. You know that." Kakashi's answer left a moment of silence between them.

"You know, I was rather surprised to hear that Asuma specifically asked you to take on his former charge."

* * *

Subatsu flipped through his prospective new student's dossier as he spoke with Asuma about his proposal. He had heard that when Asuma had learned he was looking for a new chuunin for freelance missions abroad, the jounin had called in almost every favor and pleaded with as many people as he knew just to get Subatsu's attention. Asuma's suggestion wasn't completely unheard of, but it was usually done in special circumstances. 

"You know it's really not a good idea to break up teams, especially after they've bonded."

"It won't be for too long, but I thought about it long and hard I think this will be for the best. His teammates are too dependent on him for leadership and direction, they need to be able to work in situations where he's not there." Asuma replied.

"Hm, some pretty dismal academy marks, rather inexperienced even by genin standards, obeys orders well, no infractions, so he was the one in charge of the group sent to get the Uchiha back. You know I only take on exceptional cases, what makes you think this will motivate him?" Subatsu asked, wondering why Asuma was asking him to consider this rookie chuunin whose record didn't look all that stellar on paper.

"If our ranks were better filled, it wouldn't matter that he's just content to coast, but Tsunade has made it clear if we're going to deal the Sound harassing the countryside and keep Konoha stable, that we need more skilled shinobi. Shikamaru's lazy, but he is responsible, I'm sure some missions abroad will help him realize what's at stake."

"I was a little unsure about him from reading his file, but Kotetsu did tell me about how he performed at the chuunin exam, and the blond girl from the Sand vouched for him before leaving, I'd say he has potential."

* * *

"I was rather surprised at how sheltered he seemed, but he seems to have proven himself well so far." Subatsu gave his assessment of his newest student. 

"That's good to hear, my sources have been telling me the recent problems we've been having probably aren't going away any time soon."

"Perfect timing, just as I was hoping to retire and sleep the days away."

"You should try and find someone, it will make you feel younger." Kakashi suggested as he opened his book and started reading.

"I'm too old for intimate entanglements, emotional or physical, I just prefer to risk my sanity at this point training chuunin. How do you keep up with that young academy teacher?"

"I manage. I manage very well, in fact."

"Youth is wasted on the young." Subatsu muttered, knowing Kakashi had a sly smile under his mask.

"Quite." Kakashi noted as they watched Gai's over exuberance unnerving some of the other bathers.

* * *

"Hey Asahi, I heard that you're seeing that bitch with the big set of melons, Tamizuru." Commented Genki, one of Hayataru's teammates, as the four of them sat together in the bath. 

"Dude Asahi, you're hitting that waitress at the barbecue restaurant? You better make sure you get some rubbers from Yumi before you get the clap." Heiki, Genki's twin brother and their fourth team member remarked.

"Yeah man, I heard she gets around more then your mom!" Genki added before snatching Asahi's towel as the twins broke out in laughter together.

"Give me back my towel, you little pig fucker!" Asahi chased Genki angrily.

Neji stood in the water nearby, not really listening to the conversation between Hayataru's team. His mind was working like an abacus as he plotted how he could run away. He had made up his mind that this was his best chance being this far from Konoha and having a large amount of provisions available. He knew that their sleeping arrangements were two to a room, he decided his best strategy was to drug his roommate and then slip away into the night, when everyone was relaxed and tired and full of food, it was just a matter of whom.

The older chuunin and jounin were out of the question, they probably had some training in detecting drugs. Lee knew him too well, his teammate would probably realize that something was amiss if he were suddenly nice to him and offered him a drink. The bird summoner Roka was unpredictable and didn't seem to trust him at all, going out of his way to avoid Neji, but every now and then looking at him. That sickly captain Hayataru was constantly bothering that female medic for medicines, as were the rest of his teammates for various other problems, he knew she might check up on one of them in the night, they all seemed close.

Then he noticed Shikamaru quietly soaking in an out of the way spot. It wasn't his first choice for a roommate to try and outsmart; he remembered how observant Shikamaru was from their mission to retrieve Sasuke. His skill at shogi and success at the chuunin exams also showed his analytical skills. But he also knew that Shikamaru wasn't unbeatable, Neji did occasionally manage to beat him at shogi when they played in the hospital. Even though Shikamaru didn't know him that well, he did know him well enough to trust him and lower his guard. Besides that, he was quiet and undemanding.

"Hey there." Shikamaru greeted Neji as he approached.

* * *

After cleaning up the group began sorting out sleeping arrangements. The female ninjas had no trouble agreeing who would share which rooms since there wasn't very many of them. But the males couldn't stop bickering over who would share with 2 beds to a room. 

"What's the matter now, Hayataru?" Roka asked as the captain refused the latest sleeping arrangements that included sharing a room with him.

"The recent tests from my doctor said that I'm allergic to feathers."

"You're allergic to everything."

"Be quiet all of you! I'll decide the sleeping arrangements!" No one objected as Subatsu finally roared out and restored order.

Shikamaru decided to just quietly wait it out and go with whoever was left, not giving a word of protest when Neji volunteered to be his roommate.

'Don't let it happen all over again, I'm just being paranoid.' Roka told himself as he watched Neji again making a deliberate move to befriend Shikamaru out of the corner of his eye.

But no matter what he told himself, the Incident came back to him.

* * *

Roka bounded up the steps of the Academy with the cake Yumi had helped him bake, a gift for his favorite teacher. He hadn't been back in a while, but he could still find his teacher's office without trying. He was surprised to open the door to Mizuki's classroom, only to find his older brother Kotetsu and his brother's co-worker/secret boyfriend, Izumo substituting for the day. 

"Where's Mizuki-sensei and Iruka-sensei?"

"We were told they were injured last night, they're at the hospital." His older brother told him.

He rushed to the hospital just in time to run into a bandaged Iruka speaking with Sandaime.

"Iruka-sensei, what happened to you? Where's Mizuki-sensei? Is he all right?" Roka could tell something was very wrong when Iruka hesitated to tell him.

"It's all right, Iruka, you can tell him." Sandaime reassured him.

Roka was shocked to learn that his old Academy teacher had actually tried to steal something from the Hokage's office, then attempted to kill his co-worker and a student before being caught.

"I feel like all those good memories I have from school were one big lie."

"Don't take it personally, Roka, Mizuki was a good person, maybe one day he'll realize his mistake." Iruka did his best to comfort him.

There was one question Roka had for Iruka as his thank you gift for his old teacher suddenly became a get well present for Iruka.

"Was the genin some kid with an orange jacket?"

"How did you know?"

"I saw Mizuki talking to him the other day. I thought it was strange because I never saw him speak with that kid before, but I didn't think much of it at the time."

* * *

"I got Anko-san, who's your roommate Roka? What's wrong?" The worried look on Roka's face told Yumi that he had seen something unnerving. 

"You notice that Neji guy seems rather aloof most of the time, even with his own teammates?"

"Shikamaru told me they did a major mission together, but he never indicated they were that friendly." Yumi answered as she did her best to try and watch them chat without looking directly at them as Shikamaru laughed at some remark Neji had made.

"I fear it too." Yumi whispered to her teammate, Roka nodded, knowing the one word on both of their minds concerning those close to them.

Shikamaru was unaware of his teammate's pasts and the traitors they had once known and trusted with their lives. For Yumi it had been her cousin Kabuto, Roka his old teacher Mizuki, for Subatsu, Orochimaru…

"Are you two all right?" Subatsu asked his students.

"Betrayal." Roka mouthed.

"Keep an eye on them then." Subatsu mouthed back, before leaving so as not to bring attention to them.

* * *

With everything finally worked out for the night, there was really nothing for them to do except enjoy the marketplace until dinner. As Shikamaru's team walked with Anko, Kakashi and Hayataru's team, a group of people in strange clothes approached them and greeted the jounin. Subatsu gave them a package of chewing tobacco and Kakashi offered them some scrolls and brushes as gestures of goodwill, which the leader of the group accepted and placed into his pouch. 

"Who are these people?"

"They're a nomadic tribe that has good relations with Konoha, they're a valuable source of intelligence in the South of Fire country." Kakashi answered.

"They're willing to give us information that might be helpful, but it seems they only really want to speak with jounin and chuunin captains. In their culture, it's considered proper for leaders to sit and discuss important matters in long drawn out meetings."

"Do you need us for anything?" Roka asked.

"No, they know Kakashi and Anko and I have met them several times myself. It would probably just be best for all of you to go and enjoy the market. Just report back to me if you see anything important."

As the teams broke up and spread out around the area looking at the strange wares, Shikamaru's team saw one particular booth in the food section that caught their eye, where there was lots of tiny octopus swimming around in a tank.

"Would you like one? They're a delicacy." Said the vendor.

They each bought one and watched him pluck them out of the tank, expecting him to stick them on a grill after he cut off their tiny beaks on a chopping block and impaled each creature on a sharp bamboo skewer. But instead he just dipped each one in a little sauce and handed them their own octopus, still wriggling and very much alive on its skewer. The three of them looked sick for a moment.

"Are you going to eat that?" a local boy asked the team as he passed by.

Shikamaru gave his to the boy, who promptly bit into the head as he walked off eating his free meal. Yumi did the same thing, but Roka just hesitated for a moment, then shrugged and sank his teeth in, trying his best to bite off a piece of the tough, live octopus flesh. After some pulling and struggling he managed to tear off a tentacle and proceeded to chew before freaking out.

"The sucker's stuck to my tongue!" he cried out with a lisp as he tried to pull off the stuck tentacle.

"You're supposed to eat the head first." The vendor only now explained.

"Timing is everything." Roka lisped, his tongue still decorated with his would-be lunch as his team finally couldn't hold back their laughter any longer.

* * *

While Yumi, Roka and Shikamaru seemed to be avoiding problems for the most part, Neji's team just couldn't stay out of trouble. After Gai gave them a huge motivational speech about enjoying their youth before meeting with the older shinobi and nomads, he gave his students free reign around the market. As Neji, Lee and Tenten walked through the streets, Tenten suddenly screamed before whirling around and punching a man behind her. 

"He groped me!" Tenten was outraged and prepared to pull a kunai.

"Remember Gai-sensei's instructions, we can't make a scene." Lee's advice made Tenten put back her kunai and they quietly slipped off, leaving the groper with a bloody nose.

Neji seemed to be wandering aimlessly, even though he was really making a mental map of the fastest way out of town under the cover of night. They walked a little further down the alley, where an old man with a cage of little brightly colored birds and a box of papers called out to them.

"Would you like to have my birds tell you your fortune?" the old man asked.

"I don't believe in that stuff." Neji answered.

"You can tell me my fortune." Lee said excitedly as he held out his money.

"I'd like a fortune too, here Neji, I got one for you, they don't cost that much." Tenten paid for two fortunes as the old man took a bird from his cage and it chose a paper from the box to present to each of them.

"Great riches and successes await you in your career." Tenten read aloud.

"Mine says 'Dream of love, but also stay awake and pursue it', that means Sakura-chan will fall in love with me, I just have to keep charming her!" Lee's fortune made his eyes shimmer.

Neji quietly looked at his fortune.

'Your life is 99 percent fate, the other 1 percent is hope, guiding you.'

Neji almost laughed at the irony, but before he could say anything, Lee accidentally bumped into a display of fruit and caused it to collapse. They quickly ran off with the vendor yelling curses at them as a crowd rushed in to grab what they could in the confusion.

"I don't think we're in the marketplace anymore." Said Tenten after they ran a few blocks away from the crowd.

It seemed they had wandered beyond the colorful vendors and shops and banners. This other section of town had some signs, but the buildings were old and in shabby condition. The streets didn't have wood floors either, it was just dirt. The people had different clothes and there were beggars everywhere, it was like they were in another town entirely.

'What a filthy looking area.' Neji thought to himself as they turned to leave.

"What do you think you're doing standing around and chatting, you're supposed to be working!" Neji half ignored the shouting of two older men until he realized they were addressing him.

"What do you want?" Neji asked as he turned around to face them, they stopped in their tracks.

"He's not one of ours." One of the men with a big gash on his face said.

"Are you sure? I only started being a bouncer last week." The other replied, he seemed to be the dumber of the two.

"With the way business has been? If he were one of ours, we'd be the busiest place on the street. But if he's that good looking he must belong to someone."

Lee and Tenten had no idea what the bouncers were talking about, but Neji was enraged; they thought he was a prostitute, someone who sold themselves for money.

"I don't belong to anyone!" Neji snapped.

"He probably ran away, let's take him back so we can get a reward." The bouncers made the big mistake of reaching out to try and grab Neji.

* * *

"You look stressed out Shikamaru-kun, I just made tea, why don't you have some?" Yumi offered before she went upstairs to get something from her bag. 

"Thanks." Said Shikamaru as he picked up an empty cup.

Yumi and Shikamaru had finished shopping early and gone back to the hotel to put away their purchases and make sure they had arrangements for dinner. Hayataru had asked for more medicine and Shikamaru didn't really see anything that he had wanted to buy, while Roka had decided to stay out a little bit longer with everyone else who was still shopping.

"Oh, don't drink that green stuff in the pot, you're just supposed to breathe in the fumes. It's aromatherapy for Hayataru." Yumi called down from upstairs.

"No problem." Said Shikamaru, he couldn't figure out why Gekkou was constantly able to take in those medicines, they looked so disgusting.

"When do we get to eat? I'm hungry." asked Roka as he entered the dining area and put down the items he had bought.

"Everyone else is still at the market, just sip some tea for now." Yumi called out while still upstairs.

Shikamaru turned to Roka to see him with a spoon at the green liquid in the pot.

"Hey, pea soup."

"Don't eat that." said Shikamaru.

"Yeah, yeah, we have to wait on everyone, I know." Roka answered as he popped the spoon into his mouth.

"Actually it's medicine for Gekkou." Shikamaru said, too late, as Roka grabbed a handkerchief to spit it out into.

"What's in that stuff!" the older chuunin cried out.

"Let's see, tiger bones, crushed millworms, moss of moonflower, cowslip, locust wings…" said Yumi as she came down the steps.

"Forget it, can I just have something to get the taste out of my mouth?" Roka asked, looking sick.

Shikamaru passed Roka a cup of tea.

"Better?" he asked lazily.

"Yeah, thanks. Hey, the bats on this cup look like the ones on that talisman Shikamaru picked up." Roka commented after chugging the tea.

"Oh, you don't know? The people in this village worship bats, they believe they bring good luck. They also make a lot of money selling raw guano from the bat caves nearby or converting it into pottery like the tea cups." Yumi said as she came down the stairs. She had made a point to read about the area the night before they had left for the mission.

"Guano, what's that?" asked Roka.

"Bat droppings." Said Shikamaru.

"Great, I got a baby octopus stuck to my tongue, I just ate some green crud full of crushed up bugs and bones, then I drank out of a piece of pottery made of bat shit. This place is just the bedrock of the culinary arts." Roka groused.

"No one made you eat that octopus and Shikamaru told you not to eat Hayataru's medicine, so that's your own fault. As for the pottery, it's only got some guano mixed with the clay as a stabilizer and it's been fired in a kiln, so it's not going to hurt you." Yumi lectured him.

"Ugh, I can't wait until we get back to Konoha."

The peace was wrecked as a loud crashing noise was heard in the distance. A few moments later, Neji, Tenten and Lee suddenly burst into the hotel, unhurt but looking a little disturbed.

"What happened to you?" Shikamaru asked.

Neji stormed up to his room and shut the door.

"We went to the bad part of town by mistake and some guys mistook Neji for a prostitute before he threw them into the side of a building." Tenten explained.

"Please don't tell our Gai-sensei, he would be so upset if he knew we saw such a place." Lee looked ready to cry from embarrassment.

"Why did they think Neji was a prostitute?" Shikamaru asked.

Roka and Yumi almost fell over laughing.

"When a male under twenty keeps his hair any longer then shoulder length around these parts, that's the mark of a whore, and I thought Roka had it bad with the octopus incident." Yumi explained.

"Octopus incident?" Tenten asked.

"You don't want to know." Roka rolled his eyes.

* * *

After dinner, while everyone relaxed in the lobby of the hotel talking, Shikamaru snuck upstairs and started digging around in the bag with Yumi's books. He hated to admit it, but he really wanted to read more of that yaoi manga. He had always known that he was different in some way ever since he was young and learning about Yumi's odd reading habits left no doubts in his mind about why, it really explained a lot. 

"If you wanted to read more of my manga, why didn't you just say so?" Yumi had gone upstairs to get more medicine for Hayataru and started giggling as Shikamaru jumped, caught with his hand in the cookie jar, so to speak.

"You're nearly as bad as Kakashi-sempai when I got him into reading the Icha Icha series, it's nothing to be embarrassed about, here, these are some of my favorites." Yumi handed him some books.

By now Shikamaru figured Yumi was the least troublesome person to be around out of all the people he was currently working with, so for a while they just sat around on the balcony of Yumi's hotel room and read manga. Of course, she had a little bit of everything from stuff about cute little animals, to some, well, not so innocent topics.

"How can anyone get excited about being tied up and whipped?" Shikamaru blushed as he flipped though one of the more edgy manga at Yumi's encouragement.

"Some people are into that, I also read some people are into stranger stuff, like the shape of feet-"

"Stop! Too much information!" Shikamaru's face got even redder.

"You know, you're really different from other guys." Yumi laughed.

"I hope you don't mind me hanging around you so much, you're just the least troublesome to be around right now, besides Neji."

"Don't feel bad Shikamaru-kun, this is a lot of fun, it's kind of like being with one of my girlfriends." Yumi's comment made Shikamaru tense in utter mortification.

"What's wrong?" the medic asked.

"It's nothing, I'm going to my room." Shikamaru answered, the truth being that knowing he liked other guys made him really paranoid about looking sissy or effeminate.

On the way out, Shikamaru passed Roka, who was leaning against the wall and chewing something.

"You look tense." He said as he offered Shikamaru some candy.

"Oh, here I borrowed these, I was teaching Yumi how to play earlier today, hope you don't mind." Roka added as he gave Shikamaru back his shogi set that the bats had given him.

Roka gave Yumi a concerned look as Shikamaru went to his room.

"We'll just keep an eye on them." The medic whispered.

* * *

Neji and Shikamaru began playing shogi as everyone began settling in for the night. Shikamaru was confident and relaxed, having completed a mission successfully and feeling certain about his abilities as a chuunin, while inside Neji was having an attack of conscience. His original plan of gaining Shikamaru's trust to drug him so he could run away had backfired. 

He had spent most of the day talking to Shikamaru and now found himself so fond of his company to the point that he didn't want to hurt him and was even having second thoughts about abandoning Konoha. He had internally debated over what he was about to do even as he had started rubbing the sleeping medicine into the cup. Shikamaru seemed to like spending time with him as well, and suddenly the idea of going back home and dealing with his family actually looked somewhat tolerable if it meant he could see Shikamaru more often. But this was his best chance to leave, no one was really watching him and all he had to do was get Shikamaru to take the drugs. If he didn't go now, what did it mean he was going to miss out on?

"Hey, what's this?" Neji took the book Shikamaru had carried back to the room without realizing it.

"Oh, that's one of Yumi's." Shikamaru felt a little awkward as Neji started flipping through it, even though he didn't seem disturbed at all by the content.

"These guys look like Naruto and Sasuke."

"I know." Shikamaru replied, the heat rising in his face a bit.

Neji looked up and panicked when Shikamaru began pouring tea into the cup with the sedatives and raising it to his lips. Thinking quickly, Neji pretended he had spotted a shogi move and brought his hand up fast to knock the tea out of Shikamaru's hand and into his lap.

Shikamaru quickly jumped up and changed his pants, that tea was hot! In the middle of changing, he glanced at Neji and realized that his eyes had instinctively flickered, um, downwards. They both looked at each other for a moment and blushed at the awkward moment.

"What was that?" Upon hearing Yumi's scream in the darkness outside, Shikamaru put on his other set of pants and jumped out the window without a second thought.

* * *

"Come on Yumi, hurry back, where the hell are you?" Roka muttered to himself as he watched over his teammate. 

Not trusting Neji and unsure of his intentions, they were worried that Shikamaru was at risk, they had stayed near their teammate's room to make sure he was okay. Roka had sent Taki to out the window at the end of the hall to watch Neji and Shikamaru's window when Yumi had left Roka alone to help Hayataru when he woke up coughing and looking for more medicine so that the sickly shinobi wouldn't give them away.

"I thought Hayataru would never stop coughing, how's everything going now?" Yumi finally came back.

Taki flew into the window and reported to Roka

"Taki says it doesn't look like he needs our help, but he says he saw something strange outside."

Roka led the way around the building as Yumi trailed behind before something grabbed her ankle.

* * *

Neji landed on the ground next to Shikamaru in the same chilly dense fog that had hampered his bloodline ability back at the quarry. Roka called out his crows and vines as Yumi stabbed a kunai into the ground as a handle to try and prevent whatever had a hold of her from dragging her away. 

"Crows, protect Yumi!" Roka threw caution and a ninja's normal discretion to the wind as a swarm of loud birds defended his teammate.

The skinny chuunin struck out with his whip to snag Yumi's arm as he threw a kunai at whatever was trying to abduct her. It promptly let go of Yumi and flashed at Roka as he dodged it, escaping by a hair. The commotion woke up everyone and whatever was attacking backed off into the shadows as the lights came on in all the nearby buildings.

The less experienced chuunin stumbled around, still half asleep and confused. The experienced jounin and chuunin captains who slept with their weapons next to them and at least one eye open out of habit jumped out of their windows and into the fray armed to the teeth.

Neji channeled his chakra through his fingertips as Shikamaru wielded a kunai. Shikamaru managed to land a few glancing blows and Neji was able to detect it with Byakugan made a few lucky strikes, but he couldn't make out exactly what it was and nothing they did seemed to injure or slow the attacker as it literally ran circles around them.

By now they had the support of the other jounin, but it was too fast to hit with throwing weapons and seemed to dart everywhere at once in a blur. After a considerable chase, with parries and blows exchanged between creature and shinobi, Subatsu saw an opening and lashed out, feeling his blades cut and hearing an inhuman squeal before whatever it was ran further to the edge of town. The former ANBU fell over, weak from the exhaustion of the last few days, his age catching up to him. Gai was the only one fast enough to aid his former teacher, kicking it hard, fast and far into the brush with a roar but it was too dark to keep chasing it and long gone by the time everyone else had managed to get up.

"Damn, I'm losing it. I don't know if it was human, but whatever it was, I got a wack at it." Subatsu panted, exhausted as he wiped the blood off his blade, knowing enough to save it for analysis from his years of experience as an ANBU.

* * *

The surprise attack had sent the whole hotel into turmoil. Some shinobi agreed to watch on shifts for the rest of the night as others investigated the perimeters of the town to make sure everything was okay. 

"Yumi?" Roka called out, feeling a little confused as he saw his teammate run towards the pond by the hotel's doors.

It was completely unlike her to just run off in a panic without checking to make sure everyone was all right. He knew her well enough that the first thing she did was help others who needed it. Instead he found her scrubbing her leg vigorously with a bar of special sterilizing soap from her medic kit.

"Yumi-chan, are you all right? What are you doing?"

"I'm not hurt, it's just that whatever touched me, it felt like it used to be human."

"What do you mean, 'used to be'?"

"It's hard to describe but when that thing touched me, I felt all funny inside. My leg felt so horrible and filthy, I just had to scrub it clean."

"Are you two all right?" Kakashi's sudden appearance made Roka jump.

"We're okay, Kakashi-sempai. Shikamaru and Neji-" he started.

"Pakkun's keeping an eye one them, everything's okay, I want to give you both something. Make sure no one else knows about them." He handed them each a sealed scroll.

"Learn the sealing and curse neutralizing jutsus in these scrolls, then destroy them. From what my sources have been telling me about the area, you may need them in the near future. I had hoped to teach these to my students, but I'm afraid that's not an option right now."

They quickly tucked the scrolls into the folds of their jackets, before Yumi started shivering.

"I feel strange." She said.

* * *

"Neji? Neji?" Shikamaru looked around, he'd lost sight of his roommate. 

"You're looking for Neji?" Asahi asked.

"Where did he go?"

Asahi pointed towards the washrooms.

Shikamaru could hear the water running and saw steam coming from the doors, the water was so hot. He opened the door and was shocked to see Neji, who had stripped himself from the waist up and was now scrubbing himself vigorously with a thick lather of soap, as if he were preparing for an operation.

"What are you doing?"

"I felt really dirty after touching that, thing." Neji answered as he rinsed himself off before a cold feeling suddenly came over him.

"Your lips are going blue!" Shikamaru suddenly caught Neji as he collapsed, shivering.

Shikamaru dragged Neji up to their room and put him in his bed before running to get Yumi. He started banging frantically on the door and jumped back when Hayataru opened the door with his sword brandished.

"Will you quit that? Yumi's resting." Hayataru said with his raspy voice.

"Calm down, Hayataru." Roka pushed the captain back and came out of Yumi's room with her medic bag.

"Is Neji cold?" Roka asked as Shikamaru realized that whatever had happened to Neji from touching the creature was also affecting Yumi.

"Is Yumi okay?"

"She'll be fine, she's just resting and Hayataru's guarding her, he'd protect her with his life. Come on."

Shikamaru led Roka back to his room and let him treat Neji. Neji's lips went back to their normal color and his face smoothed out into a mask of calm as Roka put his hands over the other shinobi and performed Chiyute no Jutsu.

"I picked up a few pointers from Yumi, but she's still way better at it then me. Don't take this out, it will last about 2 hours and it's the last one." Roka commented while activating a hot pack from Yumi's kit and slipping it in the bed with Neji for added insurance.

"There, he should be fine by morning. Shit! How does she deal with this?" Roka suddenly grit his teeth and hissed in pain as the muscles in his fingers started to spasm and he instinctively curled them up to his body.

"I'll be fine, it's a side effect of the jutsu that you get if you haven't had a lot of specialized medic training to deal with it." Roka went to soak his hands in cold water to try and numb the pain, leaving Shikamaru with his unconscious roommate.

* * *

Shikamaru woke up in the middle of the night to the strangest sound. He opened his eyes and was alarmed to realize that Neji shivering violently with his teeth chattering caused the noise. The hot pack had worn off during the night and now he was so cold he wouldn't get up. Shikamaru quickly got up and looked for a hotel worker. 

"Could I have an extra blanket? Hot water? Anything warm?" he asked.

"I'm sorry, we don't have any of those things left." The maid answered.

"How? You have to have something I can use."

"There have been shortages throughout the town because of the monsters. People have fled here for safety, the hotel's full of guests and it's hard to get supplies through because the caravans keep getting attacked. Our resources have been stretched to the limit, we're out of nearly everything."

Not wanting to waste any time, Shikamaru went back to his room empty handed. He knew he had to keep Neji warm. Unable to think of what else he could do quickly, Shikamaru took the blanket from his own futon and lay next to Neji, covering them both. Sensing warmth near to him, Neji turned over and hugged Shikamaru tightly. Shikamaru gave a yelp, more surprised then frightened; Neji was cold, it was like hugging a container of ice water. But it seemed to work, after about ten minutes, Neji stopped shivering and seemed to be sleeping comfortably. The problem was that now Neji was hugging him tightly and wouldn't let go. He didn't want to wake Neji up, since he looked comfortable and realizing that it was too cold for him to sleep in his own futon without a blanket, Shikamaru decided the best solution to his problem was to just go to sleep where he was.

* * *

Neji woke up in the middle of the night and lay on his side of the futon, looking at Shikamaru. Suddenly, Shikamaru shifted closer and hugged him tightly in his sleep. He held back a moan as Shikamaru took a deep sigh before breathing deeply on his neck next to him. Neji felt himself blushing as he recalled his most recent dream where he had been kissing Shikamaru. 

He had known he was different ever since he had started to feel attraction towards other boys back at the academy. Knowing he was different in some way he couldn't understand or control, he simply hid under a quiet, moody and sulky attitude in frustration. But now Neji couldn't understand why he had suddenly developed feelings for someone who seemed to be his complete opposite; Shikamaru was lazy, unmotivated and reluctant to fight. Well not completely unmotivated, he had demonstrated the ability to take charge and lead in the mission to retrieve Sasuke when those he cared about were at risk. He had made for good company and he played a pretty exciting game of shogi. Plus, his wit and conversation kept up pretty well with Neji's and his current raging hormones didn't help much either.

In fact, his hormones were really racing now. It was ten times as intense as it had been at home, and right now he couldn't get up and go to a cooler area or distract himself by training. Shikamaru shifted again and sighed quietly in his sleep as he lay on top of Neji.

'Your life is 99 percent fate, the other 1 percent is hope, guiding you.'

Neji recalled his fortune as he felt his heart racing in some mix of hormones and tension as he leaned forward…

* * *

Shikamaru woke up halfway through the night and slowly began to realize he was pressing against something very warm and soft. Shikamaru opened his eyes partway to realize that during the night he had snuggled very close to Neji in his sleep. At first he thought about moving off of Neji when he realized that Neji was awake and didn't seem to mind, in fact, Neji seemed pretty warm and flushed, breathing heavily as he rubbed a soft hand up and down Shikamaru's lower back. 

'Neji is…what the!' Shikamaru opened his eyes before quickly closing them as he felt Neji's lips on his own, interrupting his thoughts.

'Okay, I will stay calm, he's not hurting me. What's happening to my body? This feels, actually, kind of nice.'

* * *

The events from the last few days caught up with Roka in a fitful sleep where brief images of the recent turmoil in the village flashed through his mind. The old Hokage's funeral played like a black and white film, where everyone mourned and wept. Roka and his older brother were emotionally drained from helping their family prepare the public services and the bodies of Hokage and the fatalities from Orochimaru's attack on Konoha. But even after the public service was finished, the Hagane family's work wasn't done as they completed the rest of the service with Sandaime's immediate family. He remembered the pain on the face of his family's close friend, Asuma and how it had been the hardest on Konohamaru, Sandaime's grandson.

* * *

It was late at night before Yumi finally fell asleep, her routine as a medic not really letting her rest until she made sure everyone was feeling all right and everyone was safe. Her sleep wasn't restful either as she relived Nozumi's death from their mission abroad, both Yumi and Roka wept on his chest as he passed away in the arms of his team, then the task of delivering his scratched and bloody hitai-ate to his nephew and only living relative, Izumo. 

"He told me before he left how he wasn't coming back." He replied.

The scene then blurred to the hospital, she was walking down the hallway doing her shift. She opened a door and saw Shikamaru struggling to try and pull a mass of snakes off of Neji as they slithered around his prone from. Looking at the squirming pile, she saw others she cared about like Roka and Hayataru trapped in it too. She tried to move forward and help, but she couldn't move. Looking down, at her feet, she realized the floor was covered in a mass of writhing snakes, wrapping around her ankles.

* * *

"Another nightmare?" Anko's voice came from the bed on the other side of the room. 

"How did you deal with it?" Yumi asked as she propped herself up and hugged her knees.

"What?"

"When someone close to you betrayed you? Are you afraid of…of…" the medic started.

"You have to know when to be afraid, the ones who are foolish enough not to listen to their fear end up dead." Even now thinking about it made Anko relive her pain, Yumi suddenly felt bad for bringing it up.

"Why don't you get some fresh air?" the jounin changed the subject.

Heeding Anko's advice, Yumi went up on the roof of the hotel to find Roka, eating a midnight snack with Taki, something he only did when he was nervous.

"Are you all right?" Roka asked as he dipped some dry bread crusts into a bowl of broth before sharing it with the crow sitting on his shoulder.

"I couldn't sleep."

"Has Nozumi been in your dreams lately?"

Yumi wasn't surprised, the undertaker family of Hagane were even closer to death then most shinobi, they had an odd relationship with it, similar to the medics.

"The crows keep going on about snakes and bad chakra, I think he's trying to warn us."

* * *

'Damn that old dog, if they had been ten years younger, I would have been shredded alive. That former student of his kicked me hard too.' A badly wounded Kabuto thought angrily after he had managed to escape, barely. 

His medical expertise had saved his life, allowing him to perform emergency treatment on his wounds and recover just enough to finally reach his destination at the edge of Field Country. He might have taken a chance had there only been a few Leaf shinobi in the area, but he didn't dare try again with Subatsu, Kakashi, Anko, Gai and so many of their students on high alert. But at least he had found a way around the Jyuken; knowing the fact that expelling chakra from one's body left the skin easily able to absorb toxins was a very useful thing to know. At least his little success made up for his disappointment of going back to his master without catching the Hyuuga. He hurried to the safety of Orochimaru's lair as the last of the performance drugs he had taken wore off. Kabuto knelt and spoke with his master as he treated his wounds properly and presented his research.

"Orochimaru-sama, I regret to report that Nobaru is dead. Whatever is left of his army has been scattered to the winds, you'll need another supply of slaves to complete the Sound."

"A minor loss, plenty more where those came from. Do you have anything of exceptional value for me, Kabuto-kun?"

Kabuto presented his most recent research on reanimating the dead and demon summoning experiments, as well as the findings from his espionage, revealing his cards.

"Some interesting characters here, though nothing I would think of as exceptional, first is Gekkou Hayataru, a sickly one, but his sword fighting abilities could pose some difficulty, he and his team could be a bit of a hindrance. Hagane Roka's main threat is his summons, a shinobi with more then just one is rather rare and those birds give him a wide view, but without them, his elimination would not be much of a challenge. Our best bet to get rid of them would be to take out the medic, she's their main support, the lynch pin that holds them all together, if you will."

"You don't have to offer me the head of your dear little cousin as a show of loyalty." Orochimaru with a chuckle, finding the idea of someone deliberately alienating themselves from one they were so close to just for him amusing in his own sick way.

"No, but I choose to, you said it yourself; nothing is without sacrifice, weaknesses should be eliminated."

"True, though one can never completely sever ties with their past, like my little Subatsu-kun and Anko-chan."

"They're the same as always, he's crippled, she's afraid, they both want you dead."

"Are you sure you aren't forgetting something, what about my main prospects?"

Kabuto finally produced the card bearing the data on Hyuuga Neji.

"His abilities are almost at their peak, it is only a matter of time before his conflicts with his family become intolerable and we can topple the last noble clan of Konoha, it is almost time to strike. But I do not believe that even then he will come to us of his own will like Sasuke, we will have to take him by force. The completion of a perfect and permanent body is finally within sight, Orochimaru-sama."

"The powers of the Byakugan to go with my Sharingan." Orochimaru's hideous long tongue darted over his lips at the thought.

"But I'm afraid to report that an excellent opportunity to abduct Neji was missed, there's a wild card in the mix."

"Nara Shikamaru?" Orochimaru fingered the card with his data.

"I must admit, I hardly even noticed him at all in the chuunin exams until he turned out to be the only one to pass them. He even dispelled my genjutsu and Kakashi trusted him enough to work with his charges. His presence may make it difficult for us to get to the Hyuuga. What he lacks in experience and jutsus, he makes up for with his cunning and use of what he has. Nor can I predict very well how he will go in reaching the next level, his summon is incredibly rare, I have little data on what bats can do, if they're anything like the birds, then they could have an edge on the Sound. Though far past his prime, his captain, Subatsu, has trained some excellent chuunin and jounin in his time." Kabuto added with distain, still sore over the kick Gai had given him.

"I'm sure it won't be that difficult. After all, Naruto was in the way and I still got Sasuke. Besides, the Nara doesn't even have the protection of a sannin, just that toothless old ANBU has-been."

Author's Notes: Damn, this grew into a huge chapter, I rewrote it about 3 times before I liked it. I seriously saw the octopus thing happen to some guy on a travel show in an Asian food market, just wanted to add some wackiness. I don't know why Orochimaru didn't try getting Neji too when he went after Sasuke in the series, but as you can see, there shall be lots more sides of killing and action to go with the main course of hot NejiShika animal lust. Reviews shall help me get my creative juices going faster.


	8. Rising Waters

Troublesome Fate

By: Lone Ronin

Author's Notes: I originally didn't plan to use Hayataru's team all that much, but now it seems they'll be playing minor comedic relief in my story. While Hayataru their leader has a good head on his shoulders (and a small thing for Yumi, if I haven't really hinted that enough), Asahi, Genki and Heiki are basically like those amusing morons you knew back in high school who did nothing but go through their older brother's porn and booze, work on their car, and have sex with those skanky bitches who thought they were so cool. Their one redeeming feature is that they're undyingly loyal to Hayataru and will do anything he orders because they respect his awesome leadership.

Hayataru wields the sword like his father Hayate used to and is something of a hypochondriac. Asahi uses a billhook (basically a butcher's cleaver with a hook at the end for more damage) with a medium length handle while Genki and Heiki both use gloves equipped with hooked blades that allow them to scale walls as well as deliver a nasty punch. Hayataru and Asahi are 17, while Genki and Heiki are 16. As Roka already mentioned, Hayataru's family makes chemicals used in things like explosive notes and smoke bombs, Asahi's parents are accountants and Genki and Heiki's family sell clothes out of a storefront.

Part 7: Rising Waters

Unaware of Orochimaru's plans for them as they rested, the remainder of the night unfolded into a comical scene for Neji and Shikamaru, each one unaware of the other's feelings as they did their best to keep their own teenage hormones and bodies in check.

"Shikamaru? Are you awake?" Neji whispered, feeling him stiffen slightly in response to the kiss.

Shikamaru didn't answer, he simply sighed and rolled off Neji, mumbling something about wanting to sleep more.

"You're still asleep." He whispered to himself, relieved that he didn't have to explain why he was kissing his roommate and rubbing his back.

Doing his best to control his teenage body, Neji somehow managed to fall asleep again.

* * *

Shikamaru quietly rolled off Neji and pretended he was still fast asleep, not wanting to embarrass him. He felt Neji settling next to him and falling asleep again before losing consciousness himself and the next thing he became aware of was the warmth of the morning sun peeking in the window. Slowly waking up, he felt good, secure, all wrapped up in the soft covers, when he was suddenly aware of someone behind him. Then he remembered he had been sleeping next to Neji.

Who was now pressed up against him.

And spooning him.

'Oh God.' Shikamaru fought back his panic and tried to squirm out of Neji's arms.

But Neji didn't let go. Instead he hugged Shikamaru tighter and moaned his name as he moved closer to his bedmate started pushing a leg between Shikamaru's thighs.

Hearing Neji saying his name in his sleep, Shikamaru blushed a bright red. He was usually tolerant and laid back about most things, but enough was enough, he was not letting Neji hump him like a buck in heat! Then he remembered what his mom said she sometimes did to his dad when he snored.

* * *

Neji was having the greatest wet dream involving Shikamaru. Both their shirts were off, as they lay curled up together, Shikamaru was moaning, panting as Neji used his bloodline ability to stimulate the pressure points on his back, before Shikamaru punched him in the side…

'Ow, shit!' he thought as he woke up sputtering.

His first instinct was to be upset, until he became aware of his body's reaction. He quickly sat up and turned to Shikamaru, seeing he was still asleep with his face down and buried in the covers.

'Good thing he woke me up, or he would found out I had a hard on.' Neji thought with relief as he got up and went to the washroom.

Shikamaru lay on his stomach with his face down in the pillow to hide his teenage body's natural reaction, feeling relief as he felt Neji sit up and look at him for a moment before getting out of the futon and leaving the room.

'Good thing he woke up, or he would found out I had a hard on.' Shikamaru thought as he did his best to pretend to be asleep, too panicked about his own body to realize Neji's had been reacting too.

* * *

Back in Konoha, Sakura got a crash course in leadership and wartime strategy, quietly observing as Tsunade barked orders, making the Hokage's offices a makeshift command center. Fire country had 2 seasons: wet and dry. The rainy season usually wasn't a major problem for Konoha, but once every ten years or so the rains were really bad and the lowlands flooded. It wasn't just property damage and hampered trade that was a problem, Rain-nin took advantage of the waters to make raids to supplement their impoverished country and no one doubted Orochimaru wasn't going to pass up an opportunity to at least attack and at most try to destroy the Leaf at such an inconvenient time.

"Shizune, are all the medics aware of their new schedules? Good. Izumo, have the dikes been shored up enough? Well, double check. Have the messenger birds been sent out to get everyone back? Well, tell that last party to hurry up. Rain-nin are always a nuisance, Kotetsu, it's these stupid monsters and Sound-nin that are going to be a major thorn in our side. Hurry up with that paperwork, get that last group back to the village now, be ready to fortify the gates when everyone's inside and someone get me some sake!"

* * *

Neji and Shikamaru didn't have time to enjoy themselves for very long, because as soon as everyone had dressed and eaten breakfast, a messenger bird from Konoha had arrived, telling them to get home, now. However hot and humid the conditions had been when they left before, it was even worse now on the return trip. The rainy season had come hard and early to Fire Country. It was cold, raining, wet and muddy as the group made the final part of the trip back to Konoha, everyone was soaked and miserable. The trees in the area weren't strong enough for them to leap through in the way that Leaf ninja were best at traveling, so they were forced to walk quickly on the muddy pathway.

Hayataru had taken a turn for the worse and become too weak to walk. Kakashi carried him on his back while Hayataru's team kept a defensive formation around him as Anko led the way. Subatsu's team walked behind them, with several other teams behind them. Gai's team was shuffled to the back so Neji could monitor activity behind the party. Everyone was wet and caked in mud up to their knees, all their belongings might as well have been thrown in a lake, it was all soaked through. Subatsu took the time to tell his team about the serpents that had sharpened his combat skills during his younger days.

"Orochimaru has had the ability to summon snakes for a long time, so I'd suggest you all learn how to fight them when we get back. A little more then 20 years ago, when Fire country was at war with Rock he made an alliance with Manda, the Snake Emperor and was granted the right to summon them. Sandaime didn't trust the snakes, but the Kyuubi was a very real threat, it was crucial that we deal with Rock country and Orochimaru was his favorite student at the time, so he looked the other way.

Orochimaru was driven from Konoha when it was discovered that he was experimenting on citizens to develop new jutsus. It took a while to find out, many disappearances were being blamed on the war. But many bodies whose names were listed and checked off in his books were unaccounted for and it's believed he was also passing on some snacks to Manda, for he was obsessed with immortality and believed that the snakes knew the secret to it. After Orochimaru turned on Konoha, I fought many of those things and that Orochi is a powerful general in Manda's army, even at my best I had trouble fighting them, since I lack a summon.

Summons are very dangerous, I hope you all realize that the peaceful times might be over soon and I'm not what I once was. You all have a huge responsibility to protect Konoha, I know you all have great potential and valuable skills. Especially you Shikamaru, that you have both a bloodline ability and summon gives you an advantage against Manda right from the start, do you understand what I'm saying?"

"Yes, Subatsu-sensei." Shikamaru replied.

"Why are we only seeing snakes bothering Fire country now after all these years?" Roka asked.

"As near as I can figure it out, Manda was probably lying low with Orochimaru, waiting until we weakened to strike. The nomads told us that there have been many disappearances lately; whole caravans with supplies have vanished. His servants are probably looking out for food for their master, Manda becomes stronger when he consumes human sacrifices. It's probably also strategic, if I know him well enough. That attack during the chuunin exams didn't destroy us, but he was still able to weaken us and fulfill his grudge against Sandaime, now he's trying to slowly choke us off by harassing Fire country's travel, trade and supply routes, if I know his next move right, we're probably going to be under siege when the wet season starts." Subatsu continued, which was why they were now hurrying to try and get back to Konoha before they found themselves behind enemy lines.

"Hey, Roka?" Shikamaru asked as he walked beside his teammate.

"Yeah?"

"How does Subatsu know so much about Orochimaru?" Shikamaru did his best to keep his voice down.

"Shikamaru, you know how a good ninja never fully trusts anyone, right? Orochimaru was his teacher." Roka whispered.

* * *

While Orochimaru was now a sort of bogeyman to the younger generation of Konoha, many of their parents and grandparents remembered the bitter legacy he had left behind about 20 years ago when he betrayed and abandoned the village in a time of need. While many jounin took pride in training students and passing on their skills and knowledge, Orochimaru had difficulty as a teacher. He had problems forming a close bond with his students, he didn't like taking on squads of three, only reluctantly accepting single apprentices at Sandaime's insistence and even then only taking on recommendations of those who showed talent. Of the students he did teach, many felt he didn't provide the guidance and help expected of a jounin teacher.

Subatsu had made the most of his genin and chuunin days under his unpopular mentor, learning how to train himself and achieving his own independence as a jounin teacher with genin students. He was an ANBU now by this time. Even after all these years as a teacher, Orochimaru was known for not taking the role of teaching too seriously. So it came as a surprise to everyone, when he passed by the Academy on business and intervened when he saw a new student, Mitarashi Anko, being bullied by some older children. After frightening off the bullies, he spoke with Anko and seemed to see something that he liked in her. Later that same day, he visited her home, unannounced and asked her parents if he could take her on as a private apprentice.

"I know she's still just a baby, but I have a good eye for talent. I think with the right coaching she could reach chuunin status by 10, maybe even jounin level before 18." Orochimaru's flattery was everything a parent wanted to hear, offers of a free, exclusive education from a gifted teacher to provide their child with lots of opportunities.

Subatsu was also a friend of the Mitarashis, who quickly learned how happy they were about the idea of sannin such as Orochimaru asking to personally train their daughter. Subatsu couldn't help but feel bothered by their trust; not only were her parents happy about it, but Anko told him how she thought Orochimaru was 'So cool'. His odd behavior around Anko only made Subatsu more suspicious about his intentions, so they were no longer student and teacher, but rivals to the point of almost being enemies.

"I don't have a grudge against him, Hokage-sama, it's just that I know something is very wrong, this is completely unlike him." Subatsu pleaded with Sandaime for help after learning about Orochimaru's request.

"Perhaps he's finally trying to be a better teacher and sees promise in the young girl, what could be wrong with that?" the Hokage wasn't deeply concerned, but finally agreed watch his former student to make sure nothing was wrong.

The extra monitoring at Subatsu's request finally uncovered Orochimaru's dirty little secret of his experiments to find immortality that almost went undiscovered in the fog of war with Rock country. Not really believing that Sandaime had followed through on his promise to monitor Orochimaru, Subatsu had used his ANBU training to shadow his old teacher as Anko followed him to a hidden area at the edge of town.

Worried for Anko's safety, Subatsu ambushed Orochimaru, but the sannin was prepared, and threw a sticky acidic mixture he had prepared at his former student. It was formulated to cling to the skin and burn deep, causing massive injury and searing pain. Subatsu instinctively clawed at the acid on his face, but all he did was get it on his hand, burning his fingers. He struggled through the pain of his injuries to crawl up the steps and out of the lab, knowing Orochimaru was about to kill both him and Anko.

"Don't kill him, or I'll destroy your research!" Anko threatened as she grabbed a scroll and tried to rip it up.

Sandaime and the backup ANBU he had arranged for intervened 2 seconds too late, just as Orochimaru bit Anko and placed his cursed seal on her. The Hokage dumped the contents of his water bottle on Subatsu to try and wash the acid off before Orochimaru let Anko go and came at Sandaime. As Manda and Enma battled alongside Orochimaru and Sandaime, more shinobi joined the fight, driving Orochimaru away from the Hokage and out of Konoha. Seeing Subatsu stumbling away from the confusion, then chuunin-level Raido dragged his screaming older brother to the river.

When Subatsu woke up from his medic-induced coma after 3 months in hospital, Orochimaru was long gone and his younger brother also bore scars; some of the acid had smeared onto him as Raido had carried Subatsu to the water, causing the skin to raise and buckle on his face and shoulder as it healed unevenly. His act saved his older brother's life, washing off the acid before it killed, but the damage was done and Subatsu was left disfigured and tiring easily in harsh conditions. Against the expectations of the medics, Anko had survived the odds and woken up, completely fine after lying unconscious for 3 days in the hospital. Sandaime had felt terrible guilt over what had happened, blaming himself for Anko, Subatsu and Raido's injuries.

Persevering in the face of their trauma and betrayal, Anko studied hard and did become a jounin at 18, Raido was later promoted as well. While Subatsu's days as an ANBU were over, he was still valued for his experience and requested to continue work at the chuunin level, resolving to be a better mentor then the one he had.

* * *

Before Shikamaru could answer this shocking piece of information, the situation went from miserable to dire in a heartbeat as 4 wounded Sand genin stumbled out of the brush and collapsed at the feet of the Leaf ninja. Their unexpected appearance almost got them stabbed by the jumpy group.

"We were to deliver a message to the Hokage, but we were ambushed by nagas." The jounin leader moaned in pain.

"What are nagas?" Shikamaru asked.

"Nagas are snake-like creatures native to Wind Country, they are usually peaceful and shy, with purple scales. They avoid humans and only come out at night. These ones are green and attacked us in broad daylight without provocation. We tried to get to Konoha, but they chased us, they climb trees and have sharp claws, they're very intelligent, watch out." The leader warned them.

"There's about 30 blocking the path to Konoha and 10 are behind us in a Pincer Move." Neji detected the ambush as they ran to try and avoid being boxed in.

Despite their attempt to evade the trap, the main group of monsters managed to catch up to them, while the group from behind cut off a retreat.

"Snake creatures, what do you want?" Subatsu called out.

"Give us the one in your party with the white eyes, and we will let the rest of you pass." The creatures hissed.

"What do you want with me?" Neji called out.

The creatures didn't give an answer.

"The rest of you better figure out something while I stall for time." Anko whispered as she began to ask the creatures for compromises, handing over Neji was out of the question for them.

The adrenaline of extreme danger they were in put Shikamaru's mind into full gear as he analyzed the situation. The only way back to Konoha was to break through their main ranks, there were unable to retreat but they were low on strength, chakra and weapons. Not only that, they also had to protect and carry Hayataru, as well as the injured Sand team.

"This looks bad, my Kage Mane no Jutsu won't work in these dreary conditions, my shadow just dissipates." Said Shikamaru.

"So does my Katon no Jutsu." Yumi added.

"We're outnumbered, have almost no weapons and almost a third of our party can't fight, we're so fucked." Asahi complained.

"Stay calm. We're not in any condition to get through the main party. Our only option is keep them at bay until we can kill their leader, then they should retreat, look for a naga with black paint under his eyes." Said Subatsu before turning to Neji.

"Neji, can you see any weak points on them?" he asked.

"Not many, the scales covering their bodies are thick and their claws are razor sharp. They could easily break a limb with a strike from the tail. Their hearts are protected by thick ribs and enveloped in muscle, a shot there is possible, but hard. A good option is to aim for the eyes, but they're set deep in the skull. Only thing I would consider a weak spot is a small hole in the skull between their eyes. Hit it exactly and you can get the brain, but the hole is small you have to accurate." Neji analyzed the monsters.

"What about traps and explosive notes?" Yumi asked.

"We don't know how effective those are and we don't have many left, but that's a gamble we have to take." Subatsu was about the instruct the chuunin on a strategy, but now the monsters were tired of Anko's stalling and decided it was time to attack.

Kakashi, Gai and Hayataru's team defended their injured as the others used ranged attacks to try to break up the monsters into smaller groups.

"Medics are weak, kill this one, kill!" several monsters hissed as they surrounded Yumi.

Yumi stayed calm, switching herself with chunk of wood using Kawarimi no Jutsu, then setting off some explosive notes in a square around the monsters. The monsters quickly caught on and started to approach more carefully. Tenten cut several down with projectiles, but they were running low on throwing weapons and the main fighting was falling to hand to hand combat with close range weapons. Things were looking bad as the monsters focused on trying to get at the weak and injured. Genki and Heiki defended their captain, slashing hard with their bladed gloves, but the monsters kept closing in.

"Shikamaru, give me some of your bats!" Roka yelled out.

'When did he learn that?' Neji wondered as he watch Shikamaru summon some bats to help Roka's crows.

The flock of summoned flying animals pushed the monsters back with more explosive notes as Anko and Subatsu looked for the leader.

"There's that son of a bitch!" Anko screamed out as she threw a kunai.

The commander saw it and dodged, then caught sight of Shikamaru and went for him with murder in his eye. Shikamaru jumped and twisted his body, feeling his weapon hitting the weak spot as he reached his arm over before he hit the ground and rolled away like Asuma had taught him.

The limp body of the commander keeled over with the weapon stuck between its eyes while the other nagas scattered like roaches. The party gathered around it, as Gai's team still needed a specimen to take back. Asahi approached the body and prodded it with his billhook, then avoided being slashed in the naga's death throes as Anko lopped the head off.

"Just a friendly reminder that the monster isn't considered dead until it's turned into a new pair of shoes." Anko was clearly pissed as Asahi's stupidity.

"Let's hurry up and drag the carcass back before the nagas regroup and slaughter us all." Kakashi remarked dryly.

Soaking wet, dirty, low on supplies, weapons and strength, the only thing they could do was drag themselves and their injured party back to the safety of Konoha, wading through the deep mud.

* * *

The rain turned out to be a mixed blessing, washing out most of the dirt and blood by the time they reached Konoha. As everyone began to wearily limp home, Yumi took the injured to the hospital for treatment and Roka left to help his older brother with the messenger birds, while Neji approached Shikamaru.

"Shikamaru?" Neji licked his lips, his mouth was dry and he was nervous all of a sudden.

Realizing that they could have been killed in that last fight, Neji suddenly wanted to tell Shikamaru that he had developed feelings for him; his ability to read body language made him suspect that the feeling was mutual, but having never had a crush on someone before, he wasn't completely sure.

"Yeah?" Shikamaru suddenly felt really self-conscious about being all muddy and wet under Neji's gaze, even though Neji was just as muddy and wet as he was.

"Shikamaru, I was, d-do you want to-" he fumbled for the right words to say, when Ino and Chouji came running to the gates and tackle-hugged their friend and former teammate.

"Shikamaru-kun!" Ino squealed.

"You're back!" Chouji cried out, they were so happy to see him.

"We heard your mission was a success, so we have to celebrate!" Ino said excitedly.

"Come on, we'll treat you to barbeque!" said Chouji.

'Oh man, there goes that guy who always picks up flowers for the funeral home, I always see him snacking on something, yet he's thinner then me, it's just not fair.' Ino's voice suddenly sounded in Shikamaru's head as she watch Roka walking away with Yumi.

'Did I just hear Ino's thoughts?' Shikamaru felt surprised.

That had never happened to him before. He had heard it as clearly as if she had said it right in his ear. But her lips hadn't moved.

'Why did his friends show up now? Should I tell him? No, not in front of them…' Shikamaru barely heard it, but he recognized the far more faint, depressed tone.

'That was Neji's voice! What's going on?'

"Are you okay?" Chouji asked his best friend.

"I just, don't worry, it's nothing." He replied.

As his friends dragged him off, Shikamaru turned back to where Neji had been standing, only to see he was gone.

* * *

Not having anything better to do and not wanting to go home at that particular moment, Neji followed Shikamaru and his group from a distance. They arrived at the door of the restaurant where Shikamaru's parents were waiting for them and his mother fussed over him as she dried and cleaned him off as best as she could with a towel before they went inside Chouji's favorite Korean Barbecue restaurant.

He felt his heart sink as he sat by himself in the pouring rain and watched through the window in envy as Shikamaru sat in the restaurant with Ino, Chouji and his parents. It was completely different from what he had to go home to, a huge mansion with Main and Branch House members who wouldn't speak to him, Hinata, Hanabi and his Uncle the only ones who would want him around at all. But they were usually busy with their own lives, so he would probably just sit down to whatever a servant set in front of him and pick up his chopsticks, without anyone at the table to chat with.

Tenten and Lee were friendly enough to him, but he really couldn't consider them friends in the sense that Shikamaru counted his friends. Genin couldn't choose their teams, but Shikamaru chose to be friends with Ino and Chouji even though they weren't on the same team any more. While well educated by Konoha's standards and highly trained in combat, Neji suddenly felt profoundly ignorant, not knowing at all how to deal with his inner feelings or approach someone he felt attracted to.

"He has friends and family who would do anything for him and give him their time, why would he need me?" he thought miserably as he left.

* * *

Minako and Shikaku snuck off to their own table, knowing their son was at the age where being with friends was preferable to family, leaving Shikamaru to chat with Ino and Chouji. Their time apart seemed to have only strengthened their bond, as they all caught up with how they had all been doing. Ino and Chouji were more confident now, eagerly looking forward to passing their exam this time around and forming the Shika-Ino-Chou trio again.

"…so Asuma says they're assigning us someone else for the exam." Ino talked on after they placed their order.

"Did they say who?"

"No, all we know about her is that she's our age and takes private classes." She answered.

Shikamaru was doing his best to act normal, but he was still trying to adjust to this strange new awareness. He wasn't sure if really was hearing other people's thoughts or going crazy, but it seemed like Ino and Chouji were worried that he now liked his new team better then his old one and they were worried about passing the test. If he strained, he could hear his parents over at the next table, his dad was thinking about what sake to order, while his mom was happily thinking about how wonderful it was to have her son reaching chuunin level already…

"Shikamaru? Did you hear me?" Chouji asked his best friend.

"Huh?" Shikamaru snapped out of his daze.

He hadn't even heard what Chouji had been saying. His hot meal had gone by in a rush as his mind kept wondering back to the moment that Neji kissed him. For some reason, every time he thought about it, it made him warm inside and he wanted to blush. Chouji didn't notice it, but Ino's eyes were sharpened from watching flustered suitors picking out purchases for the objects of their affections at the flower shop.

"Shikamaru, do you have a crush on someone?" Ino asked with a look that said she already knew the answer.

"How did you know?" Shikamaru asked.

"I know you hate being wet unless you're taking a bath because you think it's troublesome to take off wet clothes, but you keep smiling with those soaking wet clothes and you're hardly listening at all to us."

"I don't have a crush on anyone, but they have a crush on me." Shikamaru stumbled.

"The cool and calm Shikamaru, all blushing and stuttering, I never thought I'd see the day." Ino was radiating all the adoration of someone looking at a newborn baby, but Shikamaru could sense nothing but dread from poor Chouji.

"It's not Yumi, is it?" Chouji's lower lip trembled.

"W-what?" Shikamaru was stunned that Chouji was so off the mark.

Was he growing apart from his closest friend? Or was it just a case of dealing with first romances clouding judgment?

"I know she's really pretty and smart and nice, I could understand if she really liked you. I even got a gift for her, you could give it to her instead, as long as she was happy." Chouji looked crushed at the prospect of losing Yumi to his best friend before he even got a chance to talk to her.

"Of course not, she's just a friend." Shikamaru's reassured him.

"See, I told you Chouji, come on, who is it?" Ino asked.

"Ah, I'd rather not say…"

* * *

"…they also seem to understand some human culture and customs. They let me try to negotiate before attacking and were also able to distinguish Yumi as a medic from her clothing and assumed she had no combat abilities." Anko finished submitting her report on the mission.

"It that everything?" Trunade asked.

"Yes."

"Thank you for your report, let me know if anything else of relevance comes up." The Hokage dismissed Anko.

Tsunade buried her face in her hands in frustration for a moment, then asked Kotetsu to bring her some of her old research papers, it seemed like it was time to do some homework.

'Looks like I better do this now while I have some time, this flood will probably keep me busy for a while. Though I preferred Physiology, Genetics was never my forte. What are you up to, Orochimaru?'

* * *

The rain poured down for the next few days until Saturday, and Neji trained by himself as he did his best to push the incident of the stolen kiss to the back of his mind. It might have stayed there had it not been for the unusually heavy rains. While more of the central village was built on high ground, some homes around the edge wound up underwater.

Tsunade had ordered a greater focus on defense, so many shinobi stayed in the village and used their powers to walk on top of the water. They just had to ferry supplies, move civilians flooded from their homes and control the damage. Missions continued, but those whose families had other businesses important to Konoha were encouraged to keep their work going to keep the village running. As Yumi pulled double shifts at the hospital and Roka's birds kept a watch out for snakes and Rain-nin who had an advantage and liked to make trouble in the high water, Shikamaru had to ensure that the deer were still able to graze and ensure a steady supply of meat and antlers among other things.

Other shinobi weren't idle either. The Inuzuka's dogs helped the birds patrol while the Aburame searched for rare water insects for research (looking at water striders had helped them develop the classic Leaf training technique of walking on water). The Akimichi churned out their pharmaceutical products while the Yamanaka grew water vegetables instead of flowers to preserve in preparation for the event of a food shortage.

As for the Hyuuga, being the last of the noble families of Konoha, they felt the need to keep face. Meaning that the old attitude of the aristocracy persisted even in the face of the truth. The truth being that while the Hyuuga clan had a vast estate and valuable assets of kimono, jewelry and shinobi equipment, they had actually used up much of their cash savings and were languishing in Branch and Main House politics and gentleman's poverty. While some Main House Members struggled to try and do civil servant and clerical work, no one was able to hold onto a job for long since they were not used to working for a living. To make matters worse, they still wanted to maintain the lifestyle they had grown used to, being waited on hand and foot by Branch House family members while wearing the most fashionable kimono and eating the most expensive and trendiest foods. Branch Family members seemed to have the solution of getting jobs in Konoha, applying the various skills they had learned from managing the estate into jobs and income to support both houses.

But the Main House saw this ability to earn money and independence through jobs as a threat to their control over the Branch House and fought their efforts to get work every step of the way, using favors and pulling connections, making Branch House family members suspicious and resentful of the Main House every time one of them was suddenly let go from a job without explanation or told their was no work available for them after an interview. The biggest income earners were Neji and Hinata from their mission work, but even this was a source of tension. The Main House viewed Hinata as doing 'dirty' work, not being properly groomed into a noble ladylike heir who danced and practiced tea ceremony to present the right image of Hyuuga to Konoha. They were upset with how Neji was favored by his uncle, doing and saying things other Branch House members wouldn't dare. The Branch House saw Hinata's work as competition for their own attempts to get jobs to earn money and independence, another attempt by the Main House to control them. They also saw Hiashi's favoring of Neji as being a Branch House member siding with the Main House rather then being one of them.

Seeking to carefully protect what remained of their money and property, Hiashi ran a strict house, crowding family members from flooded homes into the higher grounds of the estate and tension broke out from lack of space. Main and Branch family members quarreled over food, rooms and clothing, being forced to share each other's supplies and quarters when the floods cut off access to or destroyed stored property and lands. Main family members argued that it was necessary to show that the Hyuuga were still strong even in Konoha's hard times, while Branch family members argued that everything was in short supply and they needed to adapt. Both Houses united in berating Hyuuga Yuroshi, the estate's financial manager, complaining he wasn't handling the money wisely. Those few who held down steady jobs simply avoided the squabbling by working from early dawn to late night, including Neji and Hinata.

All through the morning and afternoon, Neji pushed his body to his limit even as the rain started to pour down. Usually he would have been training inside, but the dojo that was part of the far end of the vast Hyuuga estate was flooded to the roof in the unusually high waters. Tenten was helping her family cast more weapons, making use of the extra water available that was needed in the steel forging process while Gai trained with Lee on solid ground since Lee couldn't mould chakra and navigate over the flood waters without a boat or swimming and getting his green suit wet, something he didn't want to do. Neji simply went to the flooded training grounds and trained by himself on top of the water. The trees were bushes and the muddy water lapped at the leather of his sandals and wrecked them, but he didn't care, he just wanted to be alone with his thoughts about his foolish attempt to abandon Konoha and his feelings towards Shikamaru.

'He doesn't love you and he never will, so just forget about it and move on.' The thought hurt him, but he kept on telling himself over and over. It was like stabbing over an old wound, it hurt to do it, but he kept on going.

He was reluctant to admit it, but Neji found himself thinking about Shikamaru more then he really wanted to. And even though he did his best to be stoic about it, he knew that everyone was worried about him. He had trained all though dinner in the pouring rain, even after Hinata came back from her mission and sent a servant in a boat with a lovely oiled umbrella. But with Neji training it was impossible for the servant to keep the umbrella over his head and steer the boat at the same time.

"Why are you bothering me?" Neji finally said in irritation.

"Why is that all you ever want to say these days when someone asks you about something? Neji-sama, please go back inside to the house with me and dry off, Hinata-sama is worried about you." Noyuuren, The kitchen girl who was also Norima's gentle and sweet daughter, begged as she tried her best to keep the rain off him, which was futile as Neji moved around and was already as wet as he could get.

Neji finally convinced her to leave as he kept on training, hoping to exhaust himself to the point where he would be numb and couldn't think or care about all his family and personal problems anymore.

* * *

Shikamaru walked down the village street with Chouji, leading several deer on ropes behind him for delivery to the Inuzukas.

"Here she comes now, why don't you ask her out?" Shikamaru pointed out Yumi as she walked by with some medical supplies.

"Uh-" Chouji stammered.

"You didn't like your clothes, so Ino picked out a nice set, you got a present for her, what's the problem now?" Shikamaru asked.

"I don't think she'll like me because I'm fat." Chouji looked down at his gift for Yumi with a trembling lower lip, when sure enough, the female medic passed by them, her shift at the hospital finally finished.

"Hi Chouji, hi Shikamaru. Aw, you're taking the deer for a walk, what are their names?" Yumi gushed as she approached them.

"I wouldn't get too attached to these ones. The Inuzukas ordered them." Shikamaru's answer made it obvious they weren't going to be pets.

"Chouji, don't you have something you want to say to Yumi?" he nudged his best friend.

Chouji blushed and stuttered, his hands trembling as Yumi looked at him.

"I got you a present for taking such good care of me at the hospital." He finally managed to say as he bowed and presented the parcel with both hands.

"For me? That's so sweet of you, Chouji." Yumi happily accepted the package.

"Are you all right?" the medic asked Chouji as he blushed and sweated and played with his fingers in a way that made Hinata look bold.

"I-I have to go now, bye." Shikamaru fought the urge to smack his forehead as Chouji turned and ran off down the street.

Almost on cue, the daily downpour of rain came as Chouji left.

"Banzai!" Roka suddenly yelled as he came bouncing from a rooftop down to the ground.

The roads in Konoha were designed with large gutters to each side to drain water away from the middle road. This was what Roka aimed for to land in, wanting to splash his teammates for a joke. But what he didn't know was that the gutters had been deepened, the bottom hidden by the silt and he disappeared in the mucky water before he came up sputtering and soaking wet.

"Do you know a guy called Naruto by chance?" Shikamaru asked his goofball teammate.

"Holy crap, when did the gutters get this deep?" he coughed out.

"Don't you know that Hokage-sama had the gutters dug deeper to deal with the extra flooding? Roka, you never think before you act." Yumi scolded him.

"It's not like we can get any more wet at this point anyways. Do you always just randomly jump off roofs and into large puddles of dirty water?" Shikamaru asked.

"Actually, I came to give you guys some messages, my birds are kinda tired from all the work they've had to do. Yumi, you have another shift at the hospital, gotta show Tsunade's newest apprentice the ropes. And Shikamaru, you have to substitute at the Academy on Monday, Iruka-sensei's sick." Roka climbed out and wrung some of the water from his clothes, a useless gesture since it was already raining anyways.

"But I don't know what to do." Said Shikamaru.

"Pppfffttt, substituting at the Academy is easy, you just follow the lesson plan they give you. They'll probably stick you with the little kids and all you do is watch them finger-paint or something."

"Doesn't sound too troublesome."

"Don't be so sure, but it's less troublesome then a mission at any rate. I also have to ask you, have you started to feel, ah, unusual lately?" Roka asked.

"I'm not sure what you mean."

"Well you see, it goes like this; when you get a summon, sometimes those animals will also imbue you with their abilities."

"You mean, as in give you special powers?" Shikamaru asked.

"Not exactly, it's more like enhancing what you already have. For example, when I first got my birds, I found my eyesight had really improved and it made me a lot faster. I also seem to get the munchies a lot more, but that could just be puberty." Roka explained.

"So that's what it was. I kept hearing the thoughts of my friends and family the other day. I thought I was going crazy." Shikamaru realized.

"Well, I do remember hearing somewhere that bats have a good sense of hearing. Can you hear my thoughts?" Roka asked him.

"Just barely. It seems to depend on how close I am to someone, physically and emotionally. Hey, what are you doing?" Shikamaru asked Yumi as she suddenly grabbed a paper bag from the items she had been carrying and plunked it over his head.

"Let's do a blind test." Yumi answered, pulling out a coin and flipping it.

"I'm hearing, heads." Shikamaru replied.

Yumi flipped the coin again.

"Tails."

Flip.

"Tails." Shikamaru took the bag off his head.

"So you are hearing people's thoughts. Well, you should get better at it over time, at any rate, Subatsu-sensei has a mission on Monday, but he asked me to help you work on your summons after-"

"Watch out!" Yumi squealed as a juvenile crow swooped past them and crashed into a nearby wall.

"Kotetsu must be really desperate if he's using you to deliver messages. How many times have I told you to watch where you're landing?" Roka angrily said to the bird.

The crow squawked a reply as it gave them each a small white envelope with their payments for the mission abroad.

"Aw, you're full of excuses." Roka answered before it began cawing again.

"They're there again? He says those 3 Rain-nin punks who fail the chuunin exam each year, have been snooping around in the eastern sparring grounds again." Roka translated.

"You mean where there's twelve feet of water?" Shikamaru asked.

"Yeah, it's strange, we haven't had trouble with those guys in a long time. I wonder what they want."

* * *

Under normal conditions, even three Rain-nin genin would have been no match for Neji. But the fact that he was tired from training all day, out of his element and that his Byakugan and Jyuken didn't work very well underwater tilted the odds in their favor. Rain-nin were made for the water, their specialized equipment let them dive to crushing pressures and perform stealth attacks underwater, while Leaf-nin were better trained for open combat in jungles and forests. Their clones trapped and wore Neji down further as the real ones wielded large gaffing hooks and tried to pull him under the water's surface in a sadistic type of reverse fishing. Neji found himself literally fighting for his life. His Byakugan couldn't see in the muddy floodwater and the Rain-nin simply ducked under the surface where chakra dissipated. Trying to go after them where they had the advantage was suicide, so Jyuken was useless.

In desperation for an opening to dry land, Neji performed Hakkeshou: Kaiten to throw back the clones and clear an escape route. Having never performed it on water, he didn't realize his mistake until it was too late. Pain suddenly shot Neji's right foot as he was pulled under the water. One of the Rain-nin had managed to hook him on his foot while he had spun and pulled him right to the bottom of the water in a matter of seconds. A less powerful ninja would have passed out from the sudden change in pressure and lack of air, or at least been left disoriented and blind from the silt. But Neji was determined to fight to the last. Feeling something touching him, his Jyuken managed to connect with one of the Rain-nin. He pulled out his kunai and slashed at his attackers, using the limited range of vision that Byakugan gave him in the mucky water. The Rain-nin hadn't expected a struggle at this point and Neji broke free, then pushed off the bottom in a desperate attempt to surface for air. But the hook was still caught in his foot and he couldn't get it out. He felt water entering his lungs and his consciousness just starting to fade a few feet from the top of the water before he felt himself being pulled back up to the surface.

"Go get help! Don't let them surface!" Roka instructed his birds as he and Shikamaru caught Neji by the arms, pulling his head above the water.

Shikamaru struggled to haul Neji up for air and drag him to dry land as Roka's crows forced the Rain-nin underwater, clawing at their respirators when they tried to resurface.

"Ack, I can't hit them!" Roka yelled in frustration.

"Water bends light! Strike above the image!" Shikamaru reminded Roka.

But there was no need by this time. Realizing they had lost the advantage of surprise and numbers as Roka's birds raised the alarm, the Rain-nin fled. Roka and Shikamaru dragged a half-drowned Neji to shore where Yumi helped perform CPR. Neji cleared his lungs, coughing and spitting up the dirty water.

The Hyuuga estate was on the other side of town, so Roka and Shikamaru simply dragged Neji to Shikamaru's house since it was the closest. The Naras never really bothered to keep a guest room and Shikamaru didn't think his parents would appreciate him sticking a friend into their bed, so their only option was to put him in Shikamaru's bed.

Yumi took out a scissors from her medic kit and cut Neji's dirty, wet clothes off him, then gently washed and bandaged his wounds, the worst being the deep gash in his foot from the nasty barbed gaffing hook.

"Can't you use Chiyute no Jutsu?" Shikamaru asked.

"I would, but my chakra is drained from my work at the hospital." She replied.

"Maybe we should take him to his own house." Roka suggested.

"And let his foot touch that nasty water and get infected after I cleaned it? He's staying right here." Yumi answered.

"We can't just leave him in my bed without clothes!" said Shikamaru.

"Sure we can. It's warm and clean here I know and you're not going to hurt him." Yumi answered.

"No, but he might hurt me." Shikamaru muttered under his breath what he figured his prospects would be when a sulky Neji woke up without any clothes.

"What was that?" The medic was occupied with taking her patient's temperature and checking his other symptoms before measuring out some medicines.

"Will he be okay?" Roka asked.

"His foot should be fine if he keeps it clean, doesn't look like there's any part of that hook left in it. But I'd be more worried about that dirty water he swallowed, it's going to make him sick for a bit."

"How sick?" Shikamaru asked.

"Ever had a really nasty case of food poisoning?" Yumi asked.

"It happened to my Dad once." He answered.

"He'll be like that for the next day or so." The medic checked Neji's vital signs.

"He's got a fever, I have to go check his records at the hospital and make sure he's had a tetanus shot. It'll be best if he just sweats it out and doesn't move around too much. In any case, the hospital wards are either full of people or flood water. These herbs should help him feel better. Boil them with enough water to cover and have him drink the water when he wakes up. Call me if the fever goes on beyond this line on the thermometer or lasts beyond 4 days. I'll come back to check on him later, okay?"

* * *

Shikamaru stayed by the bedside, watching Neji as he tossed and turned, muttering with fever in a restless dream. Feeling to see how bad his fever was, Shikamaru rested the back of his hand on Neji's forehead. To his surprise, he could 'hear' Neji's dream; it was rather fuzzy and not that clear, like an old scratched up recording, but he could still make sense of the images flooding his senses.

* * *

On his fourth birthday, Neji woke up early and was fed his favorite food for breakfast. He didn't quite understand what was going on, all he knew was that something important was about to happen. Still sleepy, he wasn't completely sure what was going on until he saw members of his immediate family from the Main and Branch houses gathering into the room. Neji suddenly realized what was happening as he was tied down, he had seen it before and now it was his turn. Only this time he wouldn't be able to cover his ears and he was going to be the one screaming and crying.

"Bite down on this." Neji's father stood next to him and put a strip of tough leather in his mouth.

"It's going to hurt!" the four year old panicked.

"Be brave for me, Neji. It will be over soon, I promise." Hizashi leaned over and hugged his son tightly as he was blindfolded.

Neji had never been so scared before. He screamed in pain while he ground his teeth into the strip, the pain on his forehead was like a hot iron brand.

"It will be over soon, it will be over soon." His father whispered in his ear.

It was, because he soon passed out.

* * *

Sensing Neji's distress, Shikamaru wondered if he could send emotions as well as hear them. So he laid his palm on Neji's burning forehead and thought about the most tranquil thing he could.

The clouds.

Neji's mind responded by calming. It sort of pulsed a little feeling like an odd fluid sort of humming to Shikamaru. Then Neji's dreams started to form again after a few minutes. Shikamaru felt where the dream was going and blushed as he decided it was best to take his hand off now.

* * *

His dream fading into more pleasant images, Neji finally felt himself waking up to a bright and sunny day. He then realized that he wasn't in his own bed; this one had an interesting, but good scent. Sort of like pine, earth and musk. Suddenly realizing that he wasn't wearing anything under the sheets, he quickly woke up and looked around the room he was in. Seeing the room was empty, he turned outside to see the waters were still high in the lower lands of Konoha. But the rain had stopped and the floodwaters were now calm and still, with an almost surreal beauty as they reflected the buildings and trees. He looked on the floor and realized that he was in Shikamaru's bed, the proper occupant had set up a mattress next to the bed and slept on that, as evidenced by the made up, but slightly crumpled sheets.

Neji turned to the chair in the corner and saw a set of clothes that had been laid out for him. Hearing movement Shikamaru came into his room just as Neji finished dressing.

"What happened?" Neji asked.

"You passed out from your fever and your clothes were wrecked. My house was the closest place I could take you, so I brought you here." Shikamaru answered.

"Thank you. How long was I asleep for?"

"It's Sunday afternoon." Shikamaru answered.

Still weak and feverish, but able to stand, Neji followed Shikamaru downstairs and both sat adjacent from each other at the corner of the table. Shikamaru gave him a bowl of what looked like boiled swamp water.

"It's yarrow and feverfew. Yumi left it for you. How is it?" he asked as Neji accepted the medicine.

"It tastes like it looks." Neji said with a straight face, but it did help him feel better.

Their eyes met for a moment and their minds froze. They both started to talk at once, then stopped at once to let the other speak.

"Don't you, have work to do, since you're a chuunin now?" Neji started.

"I don't have to worry about much until tomorrow. I fed the deer while you were sleeping, and my parents are out until the evening." Shikamaru shrugged.

* * *

Before they knew it, the day faded into the evening as they chatted. They could relate to each other on so many experiences, from the chuunin exams, to the failed mission to stop Sasuke, even the recent difficulties of the flooding and what it meant for the future. Neji only felt his attraction growing as time went on, he could see Shikamaru felt something for him as well in his movements.

Finally, Neji's hand brushed Shikamaru's by accident as they both reached for a drink from the table.

The gentle touch sent a sensation down Shikamaru's spine like an electric shock as he heard Neji's thoughts in full force.

They both knew the other had felt something as they looked at each other.

"Is that also related to your bat's summon?" Neji asked.

"I can sense other people's thoughts sometimes, when they want me too." Shikamaru answered.

"Can you hear my thoughts?" the Hyuuga asked.

Shikamaru nodded, then blushed as Neji wrapped his arms around his waist.

"Nara Shikamaru, I have feelings towards you." Neji pulled them close together as they shared a gentle but firm kiss.

Author's notes: Okay people, the new title of this story is 'How Close can I get to all out Lemon Before you Murder me?'. I bet you all thought there was gonna be a hot make-out scene in the first part of this chapter, but I decided to throw a curve ball and make it funny. Then somehow the last part of this chapter wound up being cavity causing sweet before I cut it off at 16 damn pages.

I originally wanted to write Orochimaru's betrayal and the days of Konoha before Kyuubi's attack as a separate story, but I decided to scrap that idea and just put snippets of my discarded story and its effects into this story. I read Anko's 24, but since I think Orochimaru left Konoha before the Kyuubi's attack 12 years ago, I would have guessed that he trained Anko at a young age, so that's how I wrote it in the flashback. Subatsu would have been in his 20's by this time, around the age of many chuunin, jounin and ANBU and his experiences of the time now sort of account for his less then sunny disposition and strict but loving attitude as a teacher.

I can really relate to Shikamaru, so he's easy to write, but I'm struggling to keep Neji in character. If I want to hear a sappy, angsty fuck, going on about his shitty life, I'll go listen to Linkin Park music. If Neji seems slightly OOC, keep in mind that you know how a crush can make a person act.


	9. Work and Play

Troublesome Fate

By: Lone Ronin

Author's Notes: Art time! I got the links to a bunch of sketches relating to my story as well as NejiShika in general on my Author Page, so go check it out. Cute little Kouichi and Shikamaru's bat powers make a comeback in this chapter, but its mostly fluff here.

Part 8: Work and Play

The kiss was long.

And serious.

Shikamaru wasn't sure what to do, so he pulled Neji closer and decided to let him take the lead. Neji moved himself so that on top of Shikamaru and deepened the kiss.

It was the most intense experience of Shikamaru's life. His heart was racing, his breathing was heavy, his newfound ability to hear thoughts only added fuel to the fire. Neji's own desires and passions ran through his mind before…

'Yikes, how come everyone seems to be getting action but me these days?'

Roka.

'Wow, look at 'em go!'

Yumi.

* * *

Roka had taken some papers to the hospital in the evening just as Yumi's shift was ending and she was going back to Shikamaru's house to make sure he and Neji were okay. After entering the unlocked door and just before setting foot in the kitchen, Roka blushed brightly at catching his friend in such a private moment. He quietly turned and went right back out the door. Yumi continued to watch for a few moments, before Roka grabbed her and led her out too.

"What should we do now?" Roka said.

"I dunno, I still don't completely trust that Neji guy, but I do think they look really good together." Yumi's comment made Roka roll his eyes.

"You and your one track mind."

"Okay, let's stay calm. Shikamaru can hear thoughts now, right? I'm sure he wouldn't let Neji make out with him if he could hear him planning to do something he shouldn't be doing, right?" Yumi pointed out.

"You do have a point. At any rate, there's something I didn't see coming, Shikamaru isn't exactly the one getting chased by the girls as he goes down the street. At least that Neji guy is pretty good looking." Roka mused.

"Oh, I don't know about that, there was that time we saw Kakashi-sempai's real face when he was kissing Iruka-sensei." Yumi answered as she turned pink at the memory.

"How could I forget?" Roka recalled with a blush as they quietly slipped out of the house and down the street.

* * *

Although they had seen Shikamaru's chuunin teammates come in and catch them in the act, it was only after they left that they both decided it was time to come up for some air and get back to reality. Back to the reality of the kitchen in Shikamaru's house, the reality of the cold tea on the table, the reality of being seen kissing intimately and the reality that it was extremely late.

"I want to see you again." Neji panted, his lips and face still full and flushed.

"I have teach at the academy tomorrow." Shikamaru answered.

"When can I see you?"

Shikamaru thought for a moment.

"Tuesday, after lunch. There's a large meadow on top of Hokage Mountain. Take the stairs near the sculpture of Yondaime."

Shikamaru led Neji to the door. Most others at this point would have had something romantic to say, but they were not like most others. Their heightened senses were almost like telepathy, they were able to completely and honestly communicate with each other without saying a word. In any case, neither of them would have known what to say, knowing words about friends, family, fighting, traveling, running, hiding, deceit, weapons, jutsus and chakra, but nothing about love.

They shared one more kiss before Neji disappeared into the night.

* * *

Neji went home in a dream-like state and for once going back was almost a pleasurable experience. It was as if all the bickering, the cramped and crowded rooms, the whining about the flooding and resentment within the family that permeated the elegant courthouse style Hyuuga estate didn't exist. The only thing on his mind was that he had taken the risk of showing affection towards someone and having the feeling returned. It just seemed to cure him of his troubles.

'The flood waters will eventually go down and Hiashi treats me well enough. Hinata and I are the only ones earning any money at this point, so the family can't do anything to me.' He told himself, it was as if the only concern on his mind was when he could see Shikamaru again.

Hinata later commented to Neji that he seemed to be in the best mood that he had been for a long time.

* * *

Kouichi the bat fluttered through the pre-dawn sky, before hanging, out of breath, from a tree branch at the very edge of a water-logged Konoha. Normally the bats didn't go to the Northeast of Fire Country, since there really were no caves for them to stay in and humans generally didn't accept bats the way they did with birds, but he had his orders and he was sure the Naras could accommodate one bat.

'I heard Konoha was large, but I didn't think it would be this large. At least the insects are big and juicy too.' He thought as he captured a fat grasshopper.

'If I could at least get near to him, I could sense his thoughts…' an idea came to Kouichi as he spotted a crow.

"Excuse me, I don't know this area very well, I was wondering if you could help me out, I'm sure I could compensate you for your time." Kouchi called out, knowing that crows never passed up an easy meal.

"I was looking for someone in this area, his family raises deer." He continued as the crow perched near him.

"Ah, that would be a member of the Nara clan, they're known for their laziness in these parts. They're even worse then me, though their deer meat is quite sweet." The crow replied with a crude laugh as he pointed out the direction with his beak.

Kouichi thanked the crow by giving him the grasshopper, before fluttering towards the distinct house with its nearby deer corrals and salt licks. As he flew closer, he could tell that Shikamaru was awake but still in bed, and having some, interesting thoughts. Seeing an open kitchen window, he flew in, expecting a friendly greeting.

'I'm sure his parents must be very proud to know that he has the bats on his side.' Kouichi assumed that Shikamaru must have told them about his new ability by now…

* * *

Shikamaru's body woke him up early that morning, even though he had wanted to sleep in, so he simply lay in bed and to someone watching, it would have looked like he was still asleep. In reality, he found himself conjuring up a fantasy from one of Yumi's yaoi manga he had read while on the mission. He was lying in his favorite spot, watching the clouds on a beautiful day, when Neji suddenly came and lay in the grass near to him. Neji started feeding him grapes as he leaned over him and gave him a kiss, he could almost feel his boyfriend slipping a pale, soft hand under his shirt…

Shikamaru woke up from his half-awake state to his mom's screaming, followed by a thumping sound. He suddenly felt like he had been smacked in the face even though he didn't see the outside force that had caused it.

"You filthy winged rat! Nasty little animal! Get out of my nice clean house!" Minako's screeching went on from the kitchen.

'Shikamaru-sama! Help me!' a slightly familiar voice squealed in his head as clearly as if it were being shouted in his ear.

Shikamaru was still trying to comprehend what was going on when he felt as if he were being smacked again with his mom's broom, even though she was downstairs screaming.

'I'm downstairs, I didn't see her! Help!' the squeaky voice entered his mind again.

He ran down the stairs to find his mom swinging her broom as she chased a large and familiar looking bat around the kitchen.

"Mom, stop it!" Shikamaru took the broom just as his mom had cornered it for the final blow.

"It's just Kouichi, he won't hurt you." Minako was shocked as her son calmly reached his arm out and let the poor beaten bat hang from it.

"You mean it has a name?"

"I'm terribly sorry, I didn't mean to startle you, but I needed to speak with your son." Kouichi's ability to talk didn't do much to ease Minako's fear.

"It can talk. How can you touch it? I'm not going near it." She whispered as she quietly crouched behind the other side of the counter from Shikamaru and his familiar.

"I learned how to summon them on my mission, think of him as a guest."

"Just please don't bring in any more." Minako finally calmed down as Shikamaru took Kouichi upstairs.

"Are you all right?" he asked the bat as he walked back upstairs to his room.

"Nothing serious, I just got the wind knocked out of me. Your mother has good aim, she would have made a great shinobi."

"She made it up to chuunin level before she met my dad and decided she preferred being a housewife. Why did you want to talk to me?"

"Noren-sama sent me to Konoha to teach you the full limit of the abilities he has granted you in the contract. You just experienced some of them earlier, but I will have to stay with you for a time before you have learned and mastered all of them."

"So you can project your thoughts and experiences to me." Shikamaru realized now why it had felt like his mom was smacking him with the broom as she swatted poor Kouichi.

"Yes and it goes both ways, so when you summon us, you can command how we will move as if you were moving your own hand. With enough power and practice you could summon Noren himself. Will I be able to show you tonight after I've had some sleep? I've been flying all night to get to Konoha and find your house." Kouichi fluttered his wings and gave a yawn as they entered Shikamaru's room.

"I've got to teach at the academy and take care of the deer today, but I guess we can figure out something later on. Where do you want to sleep? I don't know a lot about bats, I'm not really sure where you can stay or what you'd like to eat."

"Don't worry too much about food, I can mostly forage for myself, though I'd appreciate it if you set out a little water and maybe some pomegranates, if you have any, they're my favorite. Do you have a closed dark place and an old piece of clothing?"

Shikamaru opened his closet and hung an old t-shirt with a rip in the sleeve on the hook inside the closet door, arranging it in such a way so that there was a little pocket for Kouichi to nestle into.

"Ah, thank you, this is quite nice, I'll see you tonight then after you've done whatever business you need to take care of."

"By the way, you didn't feel any of my thoughts before you came into the kitchen, did you?" Shikamaru asked as his unusual guest settled in for a sleep.

"The dreams of young manhood are natural and nothing to be embarrassed about, in any case, we bats keep our secrets quite well. Good day, Shikamaru-sama." Kouichi answered from inside the t-shirt, pausing before he poked his head out and added one last remark.

"And a good choice, by the way, that Neji fellow is very handsome for a human."

Shikamaru blushed as he closed the closet door. Then went downstairs and sat on the porch of his home to enjoy his breakfast outside; it had finally stopped raining every day and now everyone was hoping the flood waters would start to recede. Until then, Shikamaru had some interesting scenery to take in, as the waters were only about two hundred feet or so from his doorstep.

"Hey, buttered toast." Roka said as Taki swooped by and snagged some of Shikamaru's breakfast before sharing it with his human.

"I was eating that."

"Well, it smelled good and I was hungry. Kotetsu's been pushing paper all morning for Hokage-sama and he made me help him, didn't even offer me anything to eat or drink. You're up early, class doesn't start for a couple of hours." Roka suddenly realized as they started walking down the road together.

"I had a troublesome incident this morning."

Shikamaru told Roka about Kouichi's surprise visit, leaving out as much as he could about the new abilities he had been promised. It wouldn't do to have a lot of people know that he could do anything beyond shadow jutsu, as much for avoiding challenges and counterattacks as to avoid being given more work to do.

"You could mooch some books on bats off Yumi at the store, you might find that helpful."

"Thanks." Shikamaru noticed what seemed to be amusement in Roka's eye.

"What are you so happy about? Yumi's the one who's into that manga stuff." he asked.

"Oh, it's nothing, it's just that you seem to complain so much about everything being troublesome, I didn't think you could actually be bothered to make your life more complicated with things, like, I don't know relationships." Roka gave a wink.

"I know you guys saw us the other night. I'd appreciate it if you didn't share that information with a lot of people, it could get troublesome." Shikamaru answered.

"I'm not going to tell anyone, it's just that as your teammate and your friend I'm concerned for you and I don't want you to get hurt."

"Is there some reason why you don't trust Neji?"

"Well, Neji seems okay, I'd be more worried about his family."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"There's been some gossip going around lately that they've been having financial problems and there's been a lot of infighting, but I don't know if it's true, just watch yourself, okay?" Roka said as he made a deliberate attempt to shut Shikamaru out from his thoughts.

"Fine." Shikamaru sighed.

Roka and Shikamaru went to the bookstore, where they found Yumi pulling out stacks of books and papers for Kotetsu and Izumo.

"Are you sure that's everything?" Kotetsu looked sick at the huge pile of paperwork.

"That's Tsunade's work from the archives, as well as the 'other' ones you were interested in. He's been involved in a lot of research over the years."

"Hokage-sama's going to hate us for this." Izumo mused as they started picking everything up.

"We're not medics, I don't even understand half of this, you're going to have to explain some of this stuff to us." Kotetsu said as he flipped through a document full of charts and graphs.

"I'm on hospital duty after my shift here."

"Actually, they changed you to evening shift, Godaime's new protégé is doing your early afternoon shift so she can train later on." Izumo said as they left the bookstore.

"Morning, guys."

"Morning, Yumi. We figured Shikamaru could use some books on bats to help him with his summon." Roka answered.

"No problem." She said as the books on bats, snakes and some yaoi manga as an afterthought became a huge stack that went over their heads.

"Oh, and one more. This might help you understand Byakugan better, its really quite interesting." Yumi gave him one last book, but when Shikamaru flipped through it, the book seemed have a bunch of experiments with pea plants.

"I could spend all day trying to figure out what the Byakugan ability has to do with pea plants." Shikamaru told Yumi.

"Just think of the peas as a simplified model." She answered as she did her best to explain genetics, since Shikamaru had never learned it back at the academy.

"In the case of the Byakugan, it's a completely penetrant, dominant Mendelian trait, either you have it or you don't, and if you have children with someone who doesn't carry the gene, you're eventually going to have fewer and fewer kids with the Byakugan. The Hyuuga keep detailed pedigrees, they're also the only clan in Konoha that still practices inbreeding through arranged marriage, though I hear the Uchiha did it too to control their Sharingan before they were wiped out. In the case of the Uchiha, Sharingan was recessive, it was also rumoured to be linked to mental illness. But many cultures consider incest taboo, that's why many of the bloodlines are so reviled in many places. I thought you might want to read about it for personal interest."

"Fascinating." Said Shikamaru, though he didn't have a clue what Yumi was talking about.

"Oh, and before I forget, I need to talk to you about something else." The medic added.

"Okay." He said.

"As a medic, your health is my first concern, I don't know if you're sexually active yet…."

Shikamaru shook his head vigorously. He couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"…but it's extremely important that you use protection. Here, I always carry some with me, just in case. Any time you want, you can get these for free at the hospital or you can just ask me for more." The medic continued as she proceeded to pull several condoms and a tube of lubricant from her medic kit and put them in his hand.

Shikamaru was too shocked to say anything, but Yumi kept going on like she was discussing the weather.

"Don't be scared, you never know and a lot of venereal diseases can be transmitted by blood transfusions too, the hospital screens for them, but it can still happen. Plus, they're lubricated, so some of the work is already done for you, but use the extra lubricant too, you can never use too much and you still need to go slowly and stretch."

"Um, thanks." Shikamaru was suddenly very eager to get to the Academy.

"Hey, we're not done! It's important that you use them properly too. Let's see what can I use, ah, here we go." Yumi looked around and grabbed a banana that was sitting in a bowl of fruit on the counter.

"Is it supposed to get that big?" Shikamaru couldn't stop his eye from twitching.

"This is just a demonstration, I'm sure you can be mature about this." Yumi replied without a hint of irony.

"Wait a minute, I'm only 14! What makes you think I'm going to go and have sex any time soon?"

"Trust me, I'm a medic, I've seen some crazy things." She replied as she demonstrated proper use of said protection.

"I'm suddenly hungry for some fruit." Roka said with a smile before the bell over the front door rang.

"Morning, Ebisu-sempai. Just your usual order?" Yumi whipped the condom off the banana in a flash and stuck it back in the bowl, while Shikamaru quickly hid the personal items Yumi had given to him.

"Ah, Yumi-chan, back from your latest mission? So this is your new teammate." Ebisu acknowledged Shikamaru before Yumi took a brown paper parcel with a label on if from a pile full of familiar names such as Kakashi and Iruka and gave Ebisu his order.

"Yeah, we make a great team, we're learning new things every day." Roka said with a grin.

"I was in such a hurry to pick up my order, I forgot about breakfast." Ebisu suddenly noticed the fruit bowl and took out a certain banana and added it to his order.

"Is something wrong?" he asked.

"Um, no, have a nice day." Yumi quietly totaled his bill.

They all watched, wide-eyed as Ebisu left the store.

"He just bought the banana that you put the condom on." Shikamaru looked sick.

"Oh well, he probably wouldn't care anyways, he's a closet pervert." Roka mused as he grabbed a condom and started inflating it for kicks.

"You can go out and tell him if you want. And quit wasting those, Roka."

"You know what, I think its time for me to get to class." Shikamaru said as he left.

* * *

"Stop trying to act all macho, what's the matter?" Ino asked Chouji as they took a short break from training.

"Shikamaru has to work at the Academy today, I'm just hoping he hasn't forgotten about us being a chuunin and everything now." Chouji answered.

"Oh Chouji, don't feel hurt, its just that he's totally head over heels in love right now."

"How do you know?" Chouji asked.

"I've seen lots of men browsing for flowers for someone special at my parent's flower shop, I know when a guy's in love for sure. I saw Shikamaru pass in front of the flower shop this morning while I was working and he just had that walk in his steps and look in his eyes, it was so adorable!" Ino put her hands to her cheeks and beamed at the thought of the normally lazy Shikamaru suddenly worried about his looks and blushing over a date, it was such an endearing scene.

Their discussion was interrupted by Asuma as he stubbed out his cigarette and cleared his throat to get their attention.

"You've both been training hard, so I've nominated you both to take the chuunin exam again." He said as he handed Ino and Chouji their documents.

"I also wanted you to train with your new team member for the exam, she's usually busy, but she finished work early today. Ah, here she comes now." He continued.

"Sakura?" Ino had suspected they were going to work with her, but since when did she have 'private classes'?

"Hey guys." Sakura greeted Ino and Chouji.

"So, we haven't really seen you around since Naruto left, I hope you've been training hard for the exam." Said Ino, suddenly wanting to act tough and show she had something to prove.

"Well, Tsunade-sama is a strict teacher." Sakura answered

"Godiame herself has been teaching you?" Ino was dumbfounded.

They had just started the day, but Chouji already uncomfortable seeing Ino's obvious jealousy over learning about Sakura's special training. What had once been childish rivalry between them now seemed to be shaping up into serious competition.

'Where's Shikamaru when you need him?' he was starting to miss the old days, when his best friend was around to help smooth over conflicts and tension.

* * *

Shikamaru found that Roka had been right, teaching at the academy was easy.

After pinning a troublemaking Konohamaru with Kage Mane no Jutsu and talking about some of the things he had seen while outside the village, the kids quickly respected him. They had a shiruken tossing quiz that day, tossing four shiruken at a stationary target. Everyone did pretty well, hitting reasonably close to the target as they tossed each shiruken. But Hyuuga Hanabi blew everyone away, hurling all four shiruken at once, two from each hand and all hitting the spot, Shikamaru could definitely say that she was his favorite student. After some lessons on different hand seals and chakra control, they spent the rest of the day drawing pictures and then talking about what they drew.

The day went by quickly and around mid afternoon it was time for the students to go home, but not the chuunin instructors. Classes had to be locked, papers marked and documents filed away. Roka locked the upper classrooms as Shikamaru neatly stacked Iruka's papers in his office for him to mark when he felt better. He was surprised to find that he really enjoyed teaching. Even though his Kage Mane no Jutsu made keeping order in the class a breeze, he didn't really need to use it since the kids adored him, they even called him Shikamaru-sensei, he liked the sound of that.

As he stooped down to pick up some papers, he could sense the thoughts of someone approaching from behind. He knew it wasn't Roka, his thoughts sounded different, but he could sort of hear this person's thoughts, so he at least knew them by sight but he wasn't sure exactly who it was. Their thoughts sounded like the rough equivalent of a sort of giggling, seemed like whoever it was thought they were going to surprise him, but didn't seem to want to hurt him. Shikamaru calmly stopped what he was doing, making it clear he knew they were behind him. He was shocked when whoever it was suddenly grabbed him and clamped a hand over his mouth.

"Don't say a word." He growled in Shikamaru's ear.

Author's Notes: Cliffhanger, until next chapter, heh. Oh yeah, I just couldn't resist traumatizing poor Shikamaru with the banana condom thing; they had a wooden model at my old school. My elementary school was pretty fucked up, but I remember how most of the really crazy shit always happened in sex ed.


	10. Leaves, Sand, Wind and Water

Troublesome Fate

By: Lone Ronin

Author's Notes: I know I took a long time to update this, but I'm not sorry about it at all. There is a bit of lime in this chapter, with lemon to follow soon, I hope. Go to Y!Gallery.

Moving on to things of importance, there's several storylines going on here that I'm trying to cover as they all eventually come together. Shikamaru's getting a run for his money as a chuunin, Sakura's training, Neji's got family problems, and now Leaf is forming an Alliance with Sand. I first thought it would be just 10 chapters, but now this story is looking at about 20 chapters.

Part 9: Leaves, Sand, Wind and Water

"I came for my private lesson." The voice behind him said as a hand went up Shikamaru's shirt.

Having no idea what he was talking about, Shikamaru bit down on the hand over his mouth while he choked his attacker as hard as he could with his shadow, then whirled around and kicked him square in the chest with all his might, taking whoever it was completely by surprise.

Roka came running down to the ground floor of the academy at the sound of a struggle to find a stunned Shikamaru with his kicking leg still in the air, as Kakashi peeled off the far wall and crumpled to the classroom floor.

"What happened here?" he asked in total shock.

"He grabbed me from behind and groped me." Shikamaru answered as Roka helped a very apologetic Kakashi up.

Kakashi seemed pretty embarrassed about the whole thing.

"Sorry about that, it was just a joke, I thought you were…someone else." The jounin explained, winded but not seriously hurt.

Shikamaru soon realized the real reason why Kakashi had snuck up on him.

'I really did think he was Iruka from behind, how embarrassing. Maybe I should see a medic about my eyesight, although he is rather cute. I'd do him if he was a bit older.'

Kakashi was checking him out! Shikamaru felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up. But he did his best to keep a neutral expression as they continued to chat.

"Iruka-sensei wasn't feeling well today, so we had to substitute for him." Roka explained.

"That's too bad, but I guess I can find out about any new prospective genin students he's noticed another day." Kakashi answered.

The jounin's explanation for being at the Academy was almost believable, if Shikamaru hadn't been able to hear what he was thinking. Hearing sexual thoughts from one of the last people in the world he wanted to have sexual thoughts about, Shikamaru almost lost his will to live. Normally he didn't hear thoughts that intimate, but it seemed like Kakashi was even more perverted then he let on. Thankfully, Shikamaru's shinobi training allowed him to hold back his impulse to run down the village street screaming like a maniac.

'I was hoping to play "Ninja and Prisoner", or maybe "Teacher and Student", but maybe I can get in a game of "Doctor and Patient" with him instead.' Was the last thing on Kakashi's mind before they were (conveniently) interrupted by one of Roka's crows who squawked a message to his master.

"What? No way in hell!" Roka pouted as the crow flew off.

"Well, from Roka's enthusiasm, seems your team has a recon mission." Kakashi mused.

"How do you know?" Shikamaru asked.

"Let's just say that Yumi's put in charge of those sort of missions since an incident involving Roka trying to make friends by offering flowers to a village elder's daughter. Besides, your captain is on a solo mission right now."

* * *

Although he was no longer recognized as an ANBU and his physical abilities were far below that of one due to his age, the call of the past, for the adrenaline-pumping missions considered too dangerous or distasteful for other shinobi to do was simply too much. Disguised as an old peasant driven from his farm, Subatsu wandered Field Country on the last few days of his solo mission. Thankfully, the mission had not required any distasteful behavior on his part (yet), but it was quite dangerous for anyone who didn't know Field Country as well as Subatsu did. Everywhere he went, it was the same story about how Field Country had gone to hell, rumors were that the feudal lord had gone mad.

Only a few years ago, Field Country had at least been peaceful, if not prosperous. The lord of Field Country had simply been content to waste the people's taxes on gambling and women, while minding his corrupt and idle court as the serfs on his land scratched out a miserable, though at least stable existence. But suddenly, seemingly overnight, the lord of Field Country passed one decree after another, news riders rode through the tiny surrounding villages and cried out one new plan or new tax after another introduced every day. But without planning and organization, each new plan to increase crops or develop weapons, prospect for metals or dig more wells for water, simply fell through.

Farmers were pulled from their lands and food production fell, everyone was starving. The fact that a drought had swept the area didn't help much either. As the country rapidly destabilized, people turned to the only sure way to get food, through thievery. Whole families and even villages had formed bands of wandering gangs, looting and maiming anyone unlucky enough to cross them, fighting other gangs for turf. Not willing to be sitting ducks as they plowed their fields, the honest farmers who remained had abandoned their lands and in a rapid downward spiral less were left to grow food, making the famine worse.

Despite this, the feudal lord had refused to admit the drop in food production and demanded the same taxes as always. Now he had disappeared and none of the magistrates would say where he was, only that he had some great plan in mind.

Subatsu heard the same thing over and over again as he traveled through the area, unnoticed in the surrounding chaos. He arrived at the last town of his mission, finding the one thing he had hoped not to find. A news reader was informing the largely illiterate crowd of an offer for free food and employment, in return for arming themselves to try and overthrow Konoha.

"What's going on here?" he asked some of the crowd.

"They're recruiting soldiers and supply carriers for a march on Konoha." A peasant informed the undercover shinobi.

"The reason you're all starving is because the Leaf have taken everything from the Sound, so now they can no longer protect you. If you help us to loot and destroy the village in exchange for training and equipment, you will all be well rewarded."

The peasants, not knowing any better, could only accept the news rider's version of events, but the idea of joining the Sound produced a lot of muttering among them.

"I heard that ninja of Konoha get their powers from the forest spirits themselves, what if we're killed?" asked one farmer.

"It's starve here or die there, but at least it will be with some food in our stomachs if we go and maybe some money for our families." Said another man.

Seeing the nodding agreements of the other desperate citizens around him, Subatsu had quickly slipped out of the crowd to get back to Konoha with the urgent news.

From what he had gathered not only from this but also missions and intelligence gathered from more dangerous ANBU missions, it was pretty obvious they were simply rounding up some expendable fighters for a distraction while they launched the true attack elsewhere. It seemed that there was some political infighting taking place in Otogakure, between Kabuto and a rival medic who was trying to get on Orochimaru's good side.

* * *

After rounding up some peasants to make a suicide rush at Konoha's front gate, Taro, a former Sand medic who now worked for the Sound, found himself having a hard time putting the rest of his plan into motion. Most of it was from dealing with the few Sound shinobi who had taken his side. With the exception of Katsuobushi, the relationship wasn't one of trust, they had all been driven to work together. All of Taro's coalition was a collection of outsiders who wanted to usurp power and move up in the ranks but were renegades who weren't trusted because they didn't use sonic based jutsu. With so many different people in difficult and uncertain circumstances, it was inevitable that friction would arise.

But this really didn't matter to Taro, all he had cared about was his research. Orochimaru had promised him the best equipment and instruments to do his work with, plus there were no restrictions on annoying things such as ethics and pain medication. It was even better then how things had been under the old Kazekage, his successor, Sabaku no Gaara had practically done him a favor by kicking him out. He reserved most of his hatred for Kabuto, who had recently sabotaged his experiments, releasing almost all of his carefully grown naga-monsters in his quest for the data to make an unlimited supply of containers for Orochimaru.

'At least I've still got the queen, he'll never find her.' He thought as he angrily calculated how long it was going to take before he could grow new ones.

For the time being, he had vowed revenge on Orochimaru's right hand man. And he was going to do it by getting on his superior's good side, enlisting the shinobi on his side to take out Orochimaru's worst enemy, the Hokage of Konoha.

He put aside his current frustration as he sized up the young peasant who Kabuto had been working on. As far as he knew, Kabuto was trying to modify Orochimaru's original cursed seal, hoping to be able to completely control those with the mark. The former peasant who he only knew as Han, was now asking him to reverse whatever experiment it was that the Orochimaru's favorite medic had performed on him. He really had no idea how to remove that cursed seal, but being a medic allowed Taro to get away with promising things which couldn't be challenged.

Lately the kid had been nothing but a pain, asking too many questions about what the medics were doing to him with their research. Now he was making it clear that he just wanted to get his seal removed and go back home and no one was going to convince him otherwise.

"I don't really want to do this mission, it doesn't sound very safe." He complained.

"Well, Masako seems to think you can handle it. Just do this one last mission with her and Ryuku, and I'll fix you up, deal?"

"Fine, what do you want me to do?" Han sighed.

"Not much, leave the actual assassination of the Hokage to Ryuku, just make it a little easier for them to do their part. If you find the mission isn't going that well, unfurl this scroll exactly like I showed you, it will trigger all your cursed seals." the young man with slightly bucked teeth nodded as the medic finished giving him instructions for his mission.

Taro smiled as he dismissed the Sound genin. The one good thing about being stuck in this backwards country was it was much easier to do his research when he could manipulate others without having to explain too much to them.

"Taro!" Another young man called out angrily as the first one left.

"Yes, Ryuku?" The rogue medic kept his cool regard as the blue-skinned shinobi with sharp teeth and a slash through his Mist hitate-ate slammed his fist on the table, rattling the instruments on it.

"I thought you said this was an important mission!" the renegade bellowed out.

"What makes you think otherwise?"

"We're supposed to be attacking Konoha, one of the strongest hidden villages and you stuck me with a bunch of stupid farm kids who haven't even finished their training! If I had known you were going to do this to me, I would have stayed at the Mist."

It was pretty clear that he felt this mission, not to mention the shinobi he had to work with, was beneath him, and Ryuku of the Mist hated doing anything he considered to be below his talents.

"Ryuku, you know it hurts me when you talk like that, considering I used to live on a farm." A girl with brown eyes and her long braided hair pulled back in a cloth pouted and put her arm around his.

"I didn't mean you, you're a great kunochi and I have faith in your abilities Masako, just not that of the others." Ryuku softened.

"Don't worry about it, the two of us could do this mission just fine and afterwards Orochimaru's going to promote us for sure after we kill the Hokage." Masako said as she fluttered her eyes.

"Why can't you give me Katsuobushi?" Ryuku turned back to Taro as he pointed at a seemingly empty spot.

"I can join you after I retrieve the documents Taro left behind, we were only able to take a portion of his work when we fled Suna." Katsuobushi cut into the conversation with his hoarse, barely audible voice.

"Where are you, Katsuo? You know I hate it when you hide." Masako complained.

She peered into the darkness behind Taro, not seeing anything until a figure with in a yukata with light plate mail and a mask on the lower half of his face formed from a pile of biting sand insects. She jumped back a bit in revulsion; she had always hated bugs in the fields of her family farm, she still hated them now.

"Katsuobushi , I know you can move quickly with your swarm, but I need you hurry up and give me what you found in Kabuto's office before you go to Suna to get my things." Taro requested.

Taro's spy quickly handed him the documents he had found and gave a brief explanation of what it meant.

"Kabuto has a particular interest in the bloodlines of Konoha, he seems to be hoping to capture them all alive so he can duplicate their abilities in a single, invincible body. And if he had their genetic information stored as data, he could just make a new one for Orochimaru when the old one runs out. It would take years for him to have enough data though, so in the mean time, he's hoping to use Hyuuga Neji's body as a backup should anything go wrong with Sasuke." Katsuobushi explained as he flipped though photos of Ino, Chouji, Shikamaru, Shino, Neji and Hinata.

"We'll see about that. Here, Ryuku, along with the Hokage, I want you to kill all these people." Taro said as he took the files from Katsuobushi and handed them over to Ryuku.

"You should have told me about this earlier. We saw him while we were following Kabuto, we could have killed Neji back when his team was in the quarry." Ryuku complained, although he was now content that he could do a bit of killing for sport.

As Ryuku left with Masako and Katsuobushi's form melted away into his swarm, leaving to get his friend's old research, the medic sighed to himself. Masako and Han had run away from their farming village in the unstable north before becoming Sound shinobi. She was still an insecure and inexperienced shinobi, but at least she seemed to be able to get Ryuku to do what she wanted.

Taro turned back to his work, he still had so much to do. Data to analyze, reactants to purchase, toxic byproducts to dispose of, a medic's work was never done.

He never noticed Kabuto watching him from the rafters, holding Taro's original scroll that had been meant for Han, which the white-haired medic had managed to switch when his rivals hadn't been watching.

* * *

The next day in Konoha, Neji woke early and performed his exercises in the center courtyard the way he usually did before preparing to see Shikamaru. He hardly noticed any of the things which usually annoyed him, such as the arguing and complaining of his relatives as the Main and Branch houses quarreled over every little thing. He hopped out over the rooftops, the same way most shinobi went to work or training, noticing Hanabi going off to class and Hinata leaving the house and going in the direction of the hospital.

He left the district and made his way to where he and Shikamaru had agreed to meet, at Konoha's highest point.

"So you have a mission later today? Any idea what it entails?" Kouichi asked Shikamaru as lay on his back in the grassy fields on top of Hokage Mountain, waiting for Neji.

The bats seemed to suit Shikamaru quite well as a summon, they were pretty easy-going and did what he told them without questions. He could summon groups of them without a problem by now, but he hadn't been able to summon Noren, the only one he was big enough to ride on.

Although he was technically now awake in the day and asleep at night, Kouichi the bat had now become the most constant sleeper in the Nara house, but at least he didn't make trouble.

"I'd imagine that it has something to do with those Sand-nin we rescued from those monsters." Shikamaru answered.

"What makes you think that?"

"I have to travel again, out west to Sunagakure this time, I'll get the details during the briefing this afternoon. You don't want to come with me?" Shikamaru asked.

"You can summon me if you need me, why bother with extra provisions when you don't need to?" the bat asked.

"I think you just want an excuse to stay around the house because mom peels fruit for you." Shikamaru commented, his mom was slowly becoming accustomed to their unusual house guest.

Kouichi didn't answer this, but simply flew away as he saw Neji approaching.

Although he knew his date was coming, Shikamaru closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep, curious to see what Neji would do.

Neji reacted by kneeling down and trying to pick him up by the shoulders.

"Hey!" The lazy ninja cried out.

"No one ignores me." Neji smirked as they started to play wrestle, managing to pin Shikamaru.

Shikamaru responded by catching Neji's wrist and flipping him over, so their positions were reversed.

"But I'm a chuunin and you're considered a genin, so I outrank you and I can do whatever I want." He countered.

Neji pinned him again.

"I'm older then you and I've performed missions at the chuunin level." He answered.

Shikamaru pushed Neji off, but instead of trying to pin him simply nudged him so they lay side-by-side, facing each other.

"There, now neither one of us is on top." He said as they finally settled the play fight.

Although neither one had really realized it, it turned out to be their ideal date. They didn't have to say or do anything, each seemed to understand what the other wanted.

Neji pulled him close as they kissed deeply. Shikamaru gasped, surprised at how soft Neji's hands were as he slid them under the younger ninja's chuunin jacket and net shirt.

Neji continued to push his hands further, gently rubbing Shikamaru's chest and nipples.

Shikamaru sucked on Neji's neck, before pulling the collar of his shirt down and gently biting Neji's shoulder. He then moved back up and opened his mouth, allowing Neji's tongue to explore the inside of his mouth for a bit.

They continued to make out for some time, before both of them stopped and looked straight up.

"What are you looking at?" Shikamaru said to the fat black crow in the tree above them with a message for each of them in its beak.

The crow responded by dropping the folded papers, containing instructions for Neji to return home and Shikamaru to get to his briefing before it flew off, letting out a loud and insulting 'CAW,CAWcawcaw…' which was about as close to laughing as a crow could come.

* * *

The crow flew off to continue its message delivery work at Konoha Hospital, where Sakura was studying during her break from a long shift, when a nurse told her that a girl had come in and wouldn't say what was wrong, but was asking for treatment.

"Could you get someone else to handle it? I haven't eaten anything all day." said Sakura.

"She specifically asked for you, and she seems rather upset." The nurse replied.

Sakura hadn't spoken to Hinata in a while and was surprised to see her at the hospital, but she quickly finished her snack, then calmly grabbed the proper forms and a pen and led Hinata into an appointment room.

"Now, Hinata, since I'm a medic giving you treatment, anything you tell me is completely confidential, you can tell me anything and it won't leave this room, okay?" Sakura started with basic procedures.

Hinata nodded shyly in understanding.

"So, tell me what's wrong."

"I-I think I might be dying." Hinata whispered.

Sakura hadn't expected that answer. Hinata didn't really appear to be dying, in fact, she didn't seem to have anything wrong with her at all.

"Why do you think you're dying?" Sakura gently urged her on.

"Well, when I was watching the chuunin exams and I started coughing up blood from the fight with Neji, this ANBU with medic training healed it, but I think he did something wrong, or he just delayed it, because now I'm bleeding from, um, well…I'mbleedingdownthere." She stuttered near the end and mumbled the rest out.

Sakura realized right away what she was talking about, it had already happened to her.

"You're not dying, Hinata, you're having your period." Sakura answered.

"What's that? Is it supposed to happen?" she honestly didn't have a clue.

"It's perfectly natural, it means you can have children now. Didn't anyone tell you about it?"

"We really don't talk about those things in my family." Hinata said shyly.

After running a few tests to confirm that Hinata was really having her period and there was nothing wrong with her body, Sakura quickly got her what she needed and proceeded to explain everything. With Hinata relieved that she wasn't dying after all, Sakura decided to ask her about when she had coughed up blood as they walked down the hall to the hospital exit.

"Have you coughed up blood since?" Sakura asked

"No, I haven't, he did a good job, but…"

"What's wrong, Hinata?" Sakura asked as Hinata stopped and took a closer look at a staff photo up on the wall with her Byukugan.

"That's him up there." She said in surprise as she pointed to the one face on the photo of medic researchers that had been completely scratched over in black ink.

"When the ANBU healed me, I decided to look past his mask so I could thank him later. But when I realized that he was the guy who called himself Kabuto during the exams, I figured he was planted in the exams to watch us. Why is his face scratched out?" Hinata explained as she looked at the picture in confusion.

The hair on the back of Sakura's neck stood up at Hinata's observation. Like the ninja of Konoha, the medical field was very close knit, for them to do that he must have done something awful. And it wasn't related to him leaving Konoha, she had remembered seeing the black mark on the picture when she had visited Rock Lee, before Kabuto's spying was revealed.

"I'm sure there's a good reason, I could ask around for you later, but right now I've got a lot of work to get done." She answered as calmly as she could.

"I guess I'll go home then, I'm so sorry for wasting your time, Sakura, I really did think something was wrong." Hinata apologized.

"There's no need to apologize, better to be safe then sorry, right? I'll see you around, let me know if you ever need help again." Sakura reassured her.

After Hinata left, Sakura quickly asked one of the nurses about the picture with Kabuto's scratched out face, but she refused to say anything, answering that she didn't know him that well. She got the same reaction from other nurses, medics and doctors. Some even denied that Kabuto ever had medic training.

'Why won't anyone in the hospital talk about Kabuto? I wonder what he did.' Sakura wondered before another nurse informed her that Tsunade had a mission for her.

She went to Tsunade's office and recognized Yumi as the other medic in the room, one of the few others besides her and Shizune who had both shinobi and medic training.

"Have you two looked at the test results on those monsters that were brought back?" Tsunade asked Sakura and Yumi as she held a copy of the autopsy report.

"Yes, but they looked so strange, their DNA was nothing like the nagas of Wind country, so I had the tests run again." Yumi answered.

"It's no mistake, these monsters are nothing like the quiet creatures seen wandering the deserts of Wind Country. They don't look or act like them, in fact, they appear to have the DNA structures of a number of eusocial insects, which have the structure of a hive that has workers and a single egg laying queen." Tsunade explained what the test results meant.

"Which brings me to your mission." The hokage continued.

"In a sense, you're both shinobi, but the fact that you both have advanced medic training means that the medics of Sand will see you as an ally and give you the information I need. The Sand-nins who were recently rescued had an important message for me. They have told us that an individual medic by the name of Taro, an expert in genetics and the only one who has the expertise to do this has recently abandoned their village. The timing appears to be perfect, so I suspect this is his handiwork. However, he did leave behind much of his research. It is presumed that he took his knowledge to Orochimaru. He also left with the help of one of their best chuunin captains, an insect user named Katsuobushi because he was angry they didn't promote him to jounin. Be sure that you get every single piece of information that you can on the two of them for the bingo book, as well as any current genetic research and anything they know about these naga monsters." The Hokage instructed.

"Are you sure they'll just give us all that information?" Yumi asked.

"Tell them you're doing it on my behalf and you shouldn't have a problem." Tsunade said with a smile, knowing she was well respected by the medics of many ninja villages.

"And one more thing, the two of you are not to discuss this portion of your mission with anyone, including your other two teammates." She added.

"Yes, Tsunade-sama." Yumi and Sakura both replied respectfully before Roka and Shikamaru arrived at the time they had been instructed to come for the official mission.

Seeing Yumi and Sakura had arrived earlier made them suspect something was up, but they knew better then to say anything.

"Are we late?" Roka asked in confusion.

"You're just in time." Tsunade replied.

* * *

If the first mission had been a fun rush, then the second mission, by comparison, was a horrible, scorching bore. They were hot and their bodies ached as they rode in single file on camels during the uncomfortable trudge through the desert west to Sunagukare, draped in robes to keep the sun and sand out of their faces and weighed down with provisions. And the fact that not all of the people they were escorting were not the most friendly didn't help matters either.

"Were any of you aware of what was agreed upon in the treaty between Suna and Konoha years ago? How they both agreed to only accept missions within certain areas? It wasn't exactly followed to the letter, you know." The leader of the Sand-nin team, a jounin named Shuyo, asked them as he flicked the cloth covering his face back and tossed sand into Sakura's hair.

"I never really paid much attention in my history class." Roka muttered as he prodded his camel along, annoyed that Shuyo had kept on bothering them to talk about politics.

Yumi stayed quiet, focused on keeping their bearings, since she was appointed leader. Shyuo, Roka and Shikamaru followed directly behind her, with the genin and Sakura at the rear.

Tsunade had explained the official mission after Shikamaru and Roka entered. Although it was technically a 'cover', it was still quite important that this mission be done well. She needed a well-traveled, mature and responsible team, but they couldn't be too mature. Many jounin and even some senior chuunin still had an axe to grind with Sand, the current treaty was still quite delicate and old grudges from past conflicts died hard.

"This is an important diplomatic mission and the reason I picked the four of you for it is because you all have the best balance of personal skills and ninjutsu. The Sand-nin that were rescued have completely recovered and informed me that not only do they now have a new Kazekage, but he wishes to form an alliance with us against the Sound. You are to escort both the Sand-nins and my reply to their message to Sunagukare as quickly as possible and on the way back, you must bring the Kazekage, and his attendants back to Konoha so we can publicly announce the treaty together." They had recalled her saying.

The stubborn Shuyo wasn't making their work much easier. Sakura and Shikamaru had tried to be friendly with the Sand-Genin trio, but his team had kept silent, probably worried about saying the wrong thing in front of their leader. But Shuyo wouldn't shut up and it was getting on Roka's nerves.

Yumi was too busy navigating the trail to referee the situation, so Shikamaru decided to steer the conversation in another direction before Roka did something stupid.

"Shuyo-sensei, what do you know about these nagas that live in Wind Country?" he asked the jounin.

"They're very shy and mostly nocturnal and they don't bother people, they run away if you try to approach them. They're colored green because they prefer to stay around desert oasis and other areas with some vegetation. We never had trouble with them, then this strange new species showed up, attacking anyone and anything in their path. We've tried to exterminate them, but the difficulty is that we don't' know anything about them." Shyuo explained.

"Look, the oasis, we're almost home." One of the genin said to his teammates.

Sure enough, they were at the source that supplied Suna's drinking water, but they couldn't make a pit stop. The landmark was the nastier end of the oasis, full of bugs and toxic plants at the banks.

Shuyo hesitated while his team held back a bit.

"Is everything all right?" Yumi asked.

"This was where we first saw the signs of those aggressive nagas, they like to frequent this area and hunt the normal ones." One of the sand genin, a dark haired guy, replied.

Suddenly, the camels they were riding began to buck and cry out.

"What's wrong with them?" Roka wondered.

"It could have something to do with that really ripe, dead naga over there." Shikamaru pointed out the body by the water.

The partially eaten remains were rather well hidden in the grasses. The tracks and trampled plants made it pretty clear what had killed it. Yumi looked at Sakura and she nodded before they got off their mounts. Using their naginata and kunai respectively, Yumi and Sakura gently turned over the body, sending insects scurrying.

"I don't think I like what I see." Yumi said.

"This is a fresh kill." Sakura mumbled half to herself.

"Yumi, Sakura, I think we need to start running." Roka called out to the medics as he observed several buzzards circling overhead.

"What are they saying?" Yumi called back.

"They're arguing about who's going to get to eat our eyes and ears should the pack of monsters nearby manage to kill us."

Sure enough, a pack the more aggressive purple creatures off in the distance were visible on the horizon.

It was a wild chase through the desert as everyone kicked their camel's ribs to make them go faster.

"Faster, faster, how much further are we from Suna?" Yumi pleaded with her camel asked the sand jounin.

"Judging by the sun's position, I'd say ten minutes." Shyuo replied.

It was a long ten minutes as they went over the dunes with the monsters on their trail. One of the nagas managed to grab a hold of a camel, sending its rider, one of the genin, flying. Shyuo managed to catch his student, before a slicing set of wind drove off the monsters from their prey.

They had made it to Sunagukare, short of a camel.

Shikamaru and the team dismounted their camels as Kankuro and Temari sized them up, clearly not impressed.

'Our message said we needed their best and they sent these guys?' Kankuro's dismissal of them didn't improve the mood.

"Well, I see you brought our shinobi back. Let's go, the Kazekage is waiting for all of you."

'Humph, you may have a new team, but I still think you're weak.' Shikamaru heard Temari's mental assessment of him as they were led past the bleached bones of unlucky animals who had succumbed to the desert heat and into Sunagukare.

* * *

Suna was quite different from Konoha. Rather then being surrounded by high walls, Sunagukare stayed hidden through camouflage, it's sandy domed buildings so similar to the windy sand dunes of the desert, that it was possible to walk by and never notice that there was an entire village beside you. Children still played in the streets, but there were no fences or vegetation, just covered wells and buildings designed to keep the sand out.

They arrived at the largest building in the center of the village, where Temari knocked on the large doors under the arched entranceway and they opened to reveal Baki.

"The Kazekage will receive your message now." Baki said as Yumi bowed in respect and handed him Tsunade's message.

* * *

Back in Konoha, Neji sat at the table set aside for the Branch House, bored out his mind at the so-called party. Hinata had gone to the hospital and when someone had noticed her carrying back something that she had hidden in her room, it was decided right away that they needed to mark her 'attainment', whatever that was.

This of course had caused Yuroshi, the family's financial agent, to complain about the money that would have to be spent. It was finally settled that there would be a party, but to save money, the best food and seats were saved for the Main House and their guests. Branch family members could not invite anyone, and were given the least amount of food that could be given to them.

Neji stared at the stuff that passed for food in front of him. The fried rice was kind of burnt, he'd gotten the part from the bottom of the dish, and the noodles in his soup had been boiled for too long by accident and were soggy, it was gross.

Looking for an excuse to not go, he had asked Gai if he could take a mission during the party, but his teacher had insisted he participate in the dramas of his family. Gai's concept of family was one where everyone was treated equally and that they were actually people you wanted to be around. But right now Neji just wanted to be around Shikamaru, someone who understood him and with whom he could do things that were mentally stimulating, such as play shogi or go, or talk about their past missions, rather then the trivial gossip and stiff formalities he was tolerating right now.

"Neji-sama, a package just arrived for you in the mail." Noyuuren, who working in the kitchen and the tables to keep the party going, interrupted his thoughts.

Neji slipped away from the party in the middle court, took the parcel to his room and quietly shut the sliding door. Items such as adult books could be ordered and delivered to your house in Konoha, wrapped in nondescript plain brown paper, but so were confidential messages. Noyuuren had just assumed it was the latter and took it to Neji without question, since those who did not have shinobi training were not allowed to read materials related to it unless they had special permission, such as a medic.

But he had been waiting for this order from and bookstore and knew exactly what it was. Shikamaru's discovery of those fluffy pink romance books had led him to look for some more hardcore material at the bookstore.

* * *

Okay, lime part here, if you wanna read it, just go to my account at Y!Gallery.

* * *

He finally finished his climax, panting heavily as he wiped himself off with tissue. He'd been embarrassed about the whole idea of jerking off, but it was actually a lot of fun. Still, fantasy just didn't compare to reality, and he wondered if they were both ready for it.

"I want him." He said the words out loud before he could stop himself.

As he lay there thinking about what he could do next to occupy his time, the sound of screeching birds filled the air.

"Neji, are you in there? Hurry up!" Hiashi suddenly called from down the hall.

"Yes, uncle Hiashi." Neji got the magazine under his mattress and his robe tied up just in time as Hiashi flung the door open.

Neji couldn't get his regular clothes and ninja equipment to get out the door fast enough.

He ran past frightened relatives who were quickly grabbing their things and went outside to find the largest messenger birds were circling the sky and making a racket, the emergency signal that told every able shinobi to get ready to defend the village from an open and large threat while designated chuunin evacuated civilians to safety.

Neji quickly joined his team and they were given their orders to go to the main gate, where he waited with what was left of the Rookie Nine, along with other ninja whom Neji didn't know that well. The air was tense as they assessed the army that was literally at their gate.

Hinata and Shino were calmly scanning the area while Kiba scratched behind the ears of Akamaru, who had now grown as big as a wolf. Tenten sharpened a kunai on a nearby stone while Lee stretched in anticipation.

"They don't seem all that strong, it looks like a trap." Chouji complained as he ate his chips, unaware that Neji could read his lips from a distance.

Suddenly a kunai came flying over the wall. Izumo and Kotetsu read the attached message demanding an immediate surrender, before they responded with a few explosive notes.

* * *

"What are they saying?" Yumi prodded Shikamaru again as the stood in the main hall of the Kazekage's Office.

"I don't know anyone in there, so I can't really hear what they're thinking that well. But they seem to be willing to agree with the treaty, so relax." He reassured the nervous medic.

They had quickly been ushered into the main hall, where the genin they had escorted were allowed into the meeting room, while they had been instructed to wait. After a tense hour of discussion behind closed doors, Yumi, Sakura, Shikamaru and Roka were allowed in to see the Kazekage of Suna and his council for the first time.

"I see we're meeting under better circumstances." Sakura went stone-silent and Shikamaru felt his hair stand on end as Gaara acknowledged them.

'When did he become the Kazekage?' Shikamaru heard Sakrura, slightly disturbed but outwardly calm.

Although he had helped in the mission to get Sasuke back, it wasn't exactly all warm and fuzzy feelings. However, the Gaara they were dealing with now was quite different from before, though still pretty intimidating in his new crimson robes and white sash, with the village crest on his painted hat. Sitting at the head of a large table, surrounded by his council, he motioned for them to sit.

"After some discussion, our Kazekage has chosen to accept your Hokage's treaty, and her invitation to return with you to Konoha." A council member stated as Gaara looked at them in silence.

"Um, Kazekage-sama, as a show of good will for the treaty, Tsunade also requested some papers, that we think would be of help in dealing with those monsters." Yumi began to add.

"We were also informed of this, our medics have agreed to share their information as a gesture of goodwill." The council member answered.

Yumi did her best to hide it, but Shikamaru could tell how relieved she was that their mission was successful. Eager to impress the legendary medic-nin Tsunade, a small group of sand medics had disappeared into the lower levels of the main building, to get the papers. They all went down into the basement for the papers without a problem, but then a sudden free-for all broke out as the defenseless medics began were screaming and falling over each other to get up the stairs. The reason they were trying to run soon became obvious as a swarm of desert insects came out of the doors.

"I know those bugs." Temari snarled as she unfurled her fan.

She blew the bugs down the hallway with a gust of her weapon before charging into the room in fury. The others followed her and came face-to-face with a strange ninja in light plate-mail, putting stacks of papers on the floor.

"How dare you show your face here, Katsuobushi?" she seethed at the sight of the traitor.

"Don't challenge me Temari, I'm not what I used to be." The Sand traitor replied, as winged insects appeared from under his sleeves and quickly began flying into the air vents with the papers.

"I'm going to kill you!" Temari charged him while dispersing the insects with a package of poison powder, but the insects beat their wings and simply fanned it away as Katsuobushi continued to steal the papers.

"We need to get those papers and scrolls!" Sakura said as she ripped a huge chunk out of a nearby wall and hurled it at Katsuobushi.

It quickly became clear that melee attacks weren't going to help as Katsuobushi's insects simply dispersed everywhere and hid his physical form. Yumi had some better luck driving the insects away with her fire, but she didn't use it very much to avoid burning the documents.

The cloud of insects pushed everyone retreated, smacking the bugs as inflicted painful bites, until Roka and Shikamaru's birds and bats were called out. The fight quickly went to their favor as their summons ate the stinging, swarming insects and Katsuobushi decided that he'd had enough.

"My poor insects." Katsuobushi muttered to himself as he retreated.

Gaara attempted to crush Katsuobushi with his sand, but the fine insects simply slipped through the sand grains and the insect-user melted away and disappeared.

"Don't dismiss me when you're finished!" Kouichi squeaked as the bats and birds finished off as many remaining insects as they could.

"Who was that guy?" Roka asked.

"Katsuobushi abandoned our village because Gaara had refused to make him a jounin. He was never able to summon that many insects and in that variety before. If he had been half as powerful as he was today, maybe we might have considered it." Temari said angrily as she wiped the blood from insect bites on her face and neck.

"At least he didn't steal a lot of papers, and the things he managed to take weren't that important." Sakura said as she assessed the damage.

As the medics did their best to stop the burning pain of the bites and stings the insects had left, Kouichi quickly filled everyone in on what was happening.

"I'm glad your mission was successful, Shikamaru-kun, but you all must return to Leaf. Shortly after you all left, the Sound surrounded Konoha. It wasn't an all out battle when I left, but the village is under siege, Tsunade says we need reinforcements, fast." The poor bat panted out.

Upon hearing this Gaara apparently decided that the packing wasn't going quickly enough and the sand around them quickly began shuffling and placing everything onto the animals for transport. The team became a bit startled as Suna began to suddenly fade into the horizon until they realized that Gaara was moving everyone with his sand at more then twice the speed they would have gone had they walked.

"Hold still and let the sand carry you. We will reach Konoha in a few hours. Suna has a score to settle with the Sound." Gaara stated coldly.

* * *

The air was tense as the Konoha shinobi held their positions. The Sound were almost at Konoha's door, but a direct assault at the gates seemed too obvious. Civilians were still being evacuated as jounin and chuunin coordinated their defense strategy. The air was tense as several chuunin and jounin returned to the village from their missions and were updated on the situation.

"They have the most expendable at the gates to try and knock it down, I wonder if they realize they're going to their deaths." Kakashi stated as they prepared to attack.

"They were starving in Field Country, so they figured they had nothing to lose, the genin can deal with them without a problem." Anko added.

It appeared their tactic was to try and create a distraction at the front to divert attention. But the puzzling question was where they were going to try and surprise attack the village from, being protected by the main gates on the South side of the village and the Hokage mountain on Northwestern portion. That only left the Eastern forests, which would normally be full of traps, but those were still under the floodwaters.

Anko quietly began to rub her shoulder in apparent tension as Kakashi and Subatsu continued to talk.

"Have they determined where they're attempting the true ambush yet?" Subatsu asked.

"No, all those with animals are watching though." The jounin replied.

"Where's my team?" Subatsu asked Kakashi as he looked around, having just returned from reporting to the Hokage and needing an update on the situation.

"They're with the Sand getting reinforcements. Are you all right?" Kakashi turned to Anko as she started rubbing her shoulder even harder.

"My seal is reacting." Anko replied.

Author's notes: What's going to happen? Here's a hint: don't get too attached to Taro.

I just had a revelation, that the first nine chapters of this story has more plot development then the first one hundred episodes of Dragonball Z, strange, huh?

I know this moves a bit fast, but that's my style, and I'm not a pro writer.

Coming up, the siege of Konoha!


	11. Fighting the Dead

Author's notes: You're probably wondering where I was for so long. I got hired for a sweet job out of the blue and wound up having to go to a remote scientific research station at one of the ends of the earth. How remote was this place? They didn't have an internet connection, which is why I disappeared for so long.

But at least I took my laptop and had time to write, so here's the next chapter.

Part 10: Fighting the Dead

Standing on the edge of the Eastern wall, Kakashi and Subatsu were concerned about Anko's strange symptom.

"Will you be all right, Anko?" Subatsu asked the jounin.

"I think so. It doesn't feel normal, but it's never done this before, usually it's so painful I can hardly move." She replied.

"Don't worry about me, I'll be able to fight fine. There's movement at the southern gates, we had better help them, nothing's going to get though that flooded forest." She added.

"Looks like they've started to attack us, in broad daylight too, the fools." Subatsu observed as the weapons began to fly.

As the three of them turned to leave, Kakashi made a quick mental note of something he had noticed while looking out at the swollen river outside the Eastern walls.

'Odd, I was told that the floods weren't expected to go down for weeks, but there are already high water marks on the trees. The water level in the Eastern forest is falling quite fast.' He mused.

* * *

The forces had begun their rush at Konoha's front gates, but although they outnumbered the Leaf-nin, the poorly trained and badly equipped mob didn't stand much of a chance against professional ninjas with a high wall to protect them. They fended off the assault with hardly any trouble. Ino and Chouji tossed explosive notes and large stones over the edge, while Neji and Tenten blocked projectiles, as Shino controlled his insects, while Hinata and Lee tipped the bamboo ladders that the armed peasants tried to use to climb over the walls. The genin and chuunin at the gates were only suffering a few injuries, while their attackers were being completely destroyed.

"What are you two worried about? We're doing great." A young genin asked those in charge.

Izumo didn't bother to answer, simply sharing a worried look with Kotetsu as they watched the genin under their command. It seemed too easy, and in their experiences that was never good.

* * *

A few miles up Konoha's river, Ryuku continued to build up water behind his dam of ice as Han, Taro and Masako laced the ice with explosive notes.

"No sign of Katsuboushi yet, and they're killing our fighters." Masako grew worried as they watched the battle in the distance.

"That's the idea. Once they're killed, I can raise their bodies into an unstoppable army, and combined with the summon jutsu for the Queen in Han's scroll, Tsunade will be dead before tonight." Taro explained to her.

The plan was to blow the dam at the perfect time, then directing the waters into a wave to wash away the walls and other defenses that protected Konoha. He also hoped to wipe out some of the shinobi to eliminate the forces that could resist Orochimaru. Ninja could manipulate chakra to walk over calm water, but the torrent of water Ryuku was going to create would have the force of a tsunami, nothing would be able to withstand it.

"So you've managed to work out the formula for Kabuto's forbidden jutsu?" Ryuku asked as he continued to move his water.

"I didn't just work it out! I've improved it! Taken its use beyond anything he could ever do with it!" Taro replied, his intense jealousy of Kabuto showing through for a moment.

"Stop getting worked up over Kabuto and focus on the mission." Ryuku responded to the medic's small tantrum.

Taro tried to keep his nerves in check. But it was difficult, knowing everything had to go according to plan. He had planned everything perfectly, gone through it a dozen times. Counting on the expendable peasants to be killed in order raise an undead army, combined with a tsunami to wash away any leftover resistance. He had planned for everything, except he hadn't counted on Katsuboushi being late on catching up with them.

"About time you showed up. How was Suna?" Taro asked as a cloud of insects signaled Katsuboushi's return.

"Exactly how we left it, horrible." The masked shinobi replied.

"It's done now, I've got enough water to wash away their defenses." Ryuku replied, turning to Masako.

"Okay Masako, your turn. We couldn't do it in the quarry, but now there's enough moisture to go all the way." He ordered his teammate.

"They won't be able to see through this at all." Masako answered, forming her seals.

* * *

As the last of their enemies fell or ran, many of the genin started cheering. It seemed as though the ninjas of Konoha had made quick work of the former peasants turned amateur soldiers who had dared to attempt such a foolish attack on their village.

As their charges already had begun to celebrate, Izumo and Kotetsu had jumped down to the outer portion of the wall and wandered between the bodies, prodding, turning the remains over to see if they really were dead.

"Everything seems normal." Kotetsu finally said, almost ready to admit that it really had been an easy victory, as a blanket of chilly mist suddenly surrounded them.

"That's strange, fog in the middle of a summer afternoon?" Izumo wondered.

The cheering died down as confused shinobi looked everywhere as a damp, thick fog descended on the entire area, shivering in clothing too damp for the suddenly chilly weather as everything went dark and rain began to pour down.

"I can't see an arm's length in front of me!" Izumo said in frustration as the wind howled.

"The bodies, they're moving, get your weapons out!" Kotetsu suddenly shouted.

As they looked through the dark mist, it seemed as though their enemies had come back from the dead. Even bodies that had limbs cut off and large gaping wounds stood up and began to fight again with the combat skills of any trained ninja, taking Izumo and Kotetsu completely by surprise.

They slashed hard with their kunai, but the reanimated corpses didn't even flinch. Surrounded, they pressed back-to back as the undead army closed in, before a series of explosions blew some of the mob aside as Anko and Subatsu cleared a path for them to retreat back over the walls.

"I saw bodies reanimated this way on a previous mission, you can burn or blow them up!" Anko shouted, rallying the other shinobi.

Seeing their new enemies were not invincible, the Konoha shinobi fought back bravely, but the battle had become much more difficult. With the raging storm, it was getting difficult to perform jutsus to burn or blow up the bodies, and they now fought with much more skill and speed then before.

"There's too many and we don't have enough explosives, retreat!" Kotetsu ordered.

The fight had suddenly turned against them. Everyone finally began to pull back from the South gates as their enemies poured over the walls. Running deeper into the evacuated village, they laid as many traps as they could, which didn't stop the horde, although it did slow them down. The ANBU were able to produce some fire jutsus to keep back the bodies, but the rain greatly reduced their effect.

"Perhaps we could make a better strategy if we knew how they're raising the dead. " Lee suggested to his team as they set the last of their traps.

"It's hard to see in this storm, I need to get a closer look at one." Neji answered.

Tenten picked up a large spear that had been dropped in the confusion and pinned a reanimated corpse to a building with it. As Shino's and Neji's teams regrouped around the pinned body, they watched as Neji moved quickly, scanning the body with Byukugan before making a slashing motion with his pointer and index fingers causing the corpse to fall limp. Extracting something from the back of the neck, he showed the small strange insect on the tip of his blade to Shino.

"That tiny thing was moving the body?" Kiba asked, looking over Shino's shoulder.

"It was lodged in the base of the brain stem. There was a string formed from a chakra I had never seen before. What is this?" Neji asked Shino as he pushed his wet hair from his face.

"This insect isn't native to Konoha, it's found in the deserts of Wind Country. Whoever is doing this trained in Suna." Shino inspected the find.

"They're attacking from the Eastern forests!" someone suddenly shouted over the storm.

The chuunin and genin that had retreated from the Konoha's gates as the horde ran through the streets hurried to the forests that had been flooded by the Konoha river as more raised bodies rose up from the floodwaters, trying to climb up over the East walls. Standing behind the raised dead, Neji could make out five forms standing on the water in the distance.

Fighting a losing battle, but ready to defend their village to the last, many shinobi, from genin to jounin bravely jumped over the wall to face their enemies on the water, but Hinata and Neji could see something was wrong.

"Stop!" Hinata cried, grabbing Shino and Kiba's sleeves.

"Lee, Tenten, don't try to go on the water." Neji prevented his own teammates from trying to join the fight.

"Got them." Ryuku said as he saw what he had been waiting for.

Taro and the Sound-nin under his command were positioned to the rear of the fighting standing on the surface waters and half-drowned trees in the Eastern forests. As the Konoha ninja caught sight of them and dashed over the water, Ryuku formed his hand seals and made the calm water suddenly become huge waves, knocking them off their feet. With the surface of the water churning waves with white foam with the exception of a calm pool around the Sound-nin, no one was able to form their chakra to stand on the water's surface. Even as everyone was swept into the water, they continued their mission to defend the village undaunted, with those who could swim towing the injured to safety.

Katsuboushi then reached his hand forward in a grabbing motion, ordering the bodies his insects controlled to make their move. The unfortunate ninja were suddenly pulled underwater by the undead, holding them just below the surface as they waited patiently for them to drown. Han stumbled back in horror, trying to balance on the water's surface as he watched Ryuku drowning his victims, although he found Masako's encouragement even worse, he had never seen this side of her.

"That's it, we're going to win. Drown them! Kill them all!" Masako seemed almost proud of Ryuku's and Katsuboushi's cruelty.

"Han behind you!" Masako suddenly cried out as a kunai came flying at his head before Katsuboushi caught it.

"We've been spotted." Katsuboushi said as he tossed to kunai aside.

Neji and Tenten brandished their weapons as they balanced with Shino's team on a flimsy riverboat they had managed to find. Before Ryuku could attack, he found himself being kicked hard by a green flash, before Lee jumped out of the water.

"Neji, are you sure the blue ninja with the sharp teeth is the source of the problem?" Lee asked as he jumped back on the boat.

"It seems that both he and the girl are making the storm, they have the advantage as long as it lasts. And the insect user is controlling those bodies." Neji answered as he scanned the Sound team with his bloodline ability.

Without missing a beat, Lee dove into the water for another attack from below as the teams prepared to fight on the water's surface. Tenten tried to throw some weapons, but Ryuku simply pulled some water in front of him.

"Why isn't the one with the thick eyebrows trying to stand on the water?" Masako asked as they deflected more of Tenten's weapons.

"He's not trying because he can't; he's unable to mould chakra." Ryuku realized as they began the fight.

Lee had become a skilled swimmer to compensate for his inability to use his chakra to stand on the water, and it had suddenly become a huge advantage, his speed in the water taking even Ryuku by surprise. Ryuku drew a kunai and tried to slash, but Lee managed to kick him back several more times, while swimming away before Ryuku could touch him, agile as an otter. Unable to sustain his jutsu at full power and fight at the same time, Ryuku's storm began to fade to a heavy rainfall, but didn't completely stop.

Sizing up their opponents, Kiba figured that the blue skinned ninja and the one wearing the hood and plate armor were better left to Lee, Neji and Shino and figured the easiest target was the nervous looking guy with bucked teeth. Snarling, he lunged after Han.

Faced with both a snarling Kiba and the wolf sized Akamaru, Han panicked and tried to run before a swarm of stinging insects not native to Konoha came to his defense. Han watched as Katsuboushi drove a yelping Akamaru back.

"You fool, a ninja who turns their back on a fight is dead, why are you running?" Katsuboushi asked Han as he defended his teammate.

"I ran out of explosive tags." Han's lame excuse disgusted the professional ninja.

"Hang on Akamaru." Kiba tried to keep the swarm off himself as he did his best to help a whimpering and badly stung Akamaru.

"I'll take him on, he's an insect user like me." Shino stepped forward as his insects began the attack.

"Be careful, he doesn't smell normal." Kiba snorted at Katsuboushi.

Shino and Katsuboushi's swarms clashed briefly, both appearing equally matched before Shino suddenly collapsed, hardly breathing, his body racked with pain.

"You've already seen my insects control the dead, I really did think you would have realized that trying to eat my chakra wasn't a smart thing to do." Katsuboushi whispered in his hoarse voice as he reached his hand forward in a grabbing motion.

Katsuboushi's swarm tried to attack Shino's insect colony again, but Hinata fended his swarm off, striking each one with pinpoint accuracy as Kiba and Akamaru pulled Shino out of Katsuboushi's reach.

Even while gripped with pain, Shino's first concern was the ability of his teammates to fight back and defend their village.

"Get back, Hinata, his insects are eating mine, I can't stop them." Shino said through gritted teeth as she tried to help him, he was literally fighting for his life.

"Let your insects take some of my chakra." Hinata replied as she ignored his order and both crushed and removed Katsuboushi's insects off of Shino with Jyuken.

Katsuoboush pulled his insects back briefly, not wanting to lose any more as he saw Masako send Tenten flying back with a gust of wind from the corner of his eye.

"Are the insect user and Hyuuga girl dead yet?" she asked him.

"No, my insects can't attack her, the way she pushes chakra out of her body." Katsuboushi said as he realized what an enormous advantage Jyuken had over his insects.

'So this is the Byukugan's power, Taro was wise to want you all dead.' Katsuboushi thought, turning to Ryuku as on of his insects brought him an important message.

"Gaara and his team are coming, why haven't you brought their walls down?" he demanded.

"I'm looking for Gaara to come, killing him and the Hokage at once would be even better." Ryuku answered.

"Don't wait on him, it may not work on Gaara, you have to destroy Konoha now." Katsuboushi told Ryuku

"I'm not worried about Gaara. Shaukaku may be powerful, but Isonade can't be defeated with this much water to feed my power." Ryuku brushed off Katsuboushi's warning.

The insect handler wouldn't have any of it.

"You're an arrogant idiot, you don't know what he can do, crush the Leaf now." He argued back.

"Don't tell me what to do, you pile of maggots." Ryuku bared his sharp teeth in anger.

"They're arguing with each other." Hinata felt confused as they watched the conflict.

Professional shinobi didn't argue with each other in the field, always taught from the start that the team had to work together or they wouldn't survive.

"How can they be so powerful and not know what they're doing?" Kiba asked in astonishment.

By now the fight had reached something of a stalemate. Lee was simply too fast to be hit, dodging before Ryuku's water could catch up to him. But he couldn't strike Ryuku either, as his water made a shield and absorbed the force of Lee's strikes. Neji and Tenten tried to help Lee, but balancing on the riverboat in the rough stormy water, they could barely stay on the surface, let alone fight.

Ryuku was also beginning to get the upper hand with Lee. The cold water and wind was draining his body heat, slowly weakening him.

"Forget it, you can't beat me without any ninjutsu or genjutsu, why don't you just give up?" Ryuku asked Lee, now so exhausted he could barely swim, let alone fight.

As the Leaf teams regrouped and prepared to fight again, a loud roar suddenly started in the distance.

"What's that?" Hinata asked.

"It sounds like a sandstorm that once hit my home when the soil dried up." Han said in concern.

"It's just the wind and rain." Masako answerd.

"It's Gaara, use the tsunami now." Katsuboushi urged his team leader.

"Not just yet." Ryuku waited until all the shinobi coming at them were at the distance he wanted as he started his seal sequence.

"Now." He completed the final hand seal.

They couldn't see the reason for the move as first, until it became obvious that the water level was dropping rapidly, leaving the riverboat on the ground. The water formed a tsunami and was now rushing towards the village. The Leaf shinobi suddenly realized that they were at the wrong place, with a wall of water rushing towards them and Konoha, there was nothing they could do.

* * *

With no further need to rush, Gaara's sand placed everyone on the ground. Cold and wet from the storm, the group moved east, past the main gate, along the banks of the flooded river, littered with the remains of Konoha's attackers. As one of Roka's crows came and informed them of where the most serious fighting was, Shikamaru's team, along with Kouichi and the Sand siblings circled wide around the conflict, hopping through the treetops towards the flooded lowlands.

"No sign of anyone alive by the gates." Roka translated his crow's report as the Sakura, Shikamaru's team and the sand siblings approached Konoha, carried by Gaara's sand as his bat fluttered behind.

"What are you talking about? I can see lots of fighting in the distance." Temari replied.

"Well, this might be hard to believe, but the Sound seem to have found a way to do this whole raise-the-dead thing and create a really strong undead army out of corpses that can dissolve and eat your flesh, it's really creepy." Roka tried his best to explain.

"We saw them do it on a previous mission." Shikamaru backed Roka up, although it was clear from Temari's expression that she didn't fully believe them.

"I believe them." Gaara replied.

His brother and sister listened intently, knowing that he never rushed words.

"Before he fled, I was about to have Taro arrested, because of reports that he had been stealing bodies bodies from the graveyards to study, this would explain why." Gaara said as they reached Konoha.

"Then let's take a closer look." Said Kankuro.

Approaching one unfortunate corpse, Temari threw a kunai at it to see if there were any traps attached to the body, without any reaction. Yumi then moved closer and gently prodded it. Hesitantly, the medic then reached and touched the body with here bare hand, without any negative effects.

"You couldn't even touch the last ones, these aren't like the raised bodies we fought before." Yumi realized.

"These corpses haven't been raised. " Kankuro picked up a barely visible thread attached to the body.

"There are strings of chakra attached; classic puppet set-up." The puppet master observed.

"Hey, keep it down!" Roka hissed at his crow as it started making up a racket again.

"What's he going on about?" Temari asked him.

"He's saying something about this bad charka, no wait…what do you mean the water's going away?" Roka asked.

Sure enough, Shikamaru pointed out to his teammate that the water beneath them was suddenly dropping at an alarming rate, retreating deeper into the forest, adding to the tsunami that now approaching them at a frightening speed. Realizing it would be impossible to run from it, the teams could only watch.

Without hesitation, Gaara quietly drew his hand in front of his face, turning it sideways with his index and ring finger extended, focusing his powers. A wall of sand rose up and crashed into the tsunami, absorbing much of the force and sparing Konoha.

* * *

"My tsunami!" Ryuku was furious as he watched his jutsu stopped by the sand.

"Why did you stop the rain?" Masako asked as the sky began to clear.

"I can't keep it going anymore, my powers are reduced with the water all spread out." He replied.

Even with the wave stopped and the rain clearing, the force generated by the tsunami was enough to flip the boat that Neji and Shino's teams had been standing on, sending everyone into the freezing water.

"The rain is the least of our worries." Katsuoboushi quietly stepped back as the Gaara made his entrance, with Taro not that far behind him.

"So, you're Gaara, Kazekage of Sunagakure, I am Ryuku, formerly one who hid in the Mist." Ryuku bared his teeth, excited at the chance to see this individual who even Katsuboushi and Taro openly feared.

Gaara didn't answer.

* * *

With the rain stopped, the Konoha shinobi were now able to use fire with full force, pushing back what was left of Katsuoboushi's insect controlled bodies. With the wave gone and the battle turning, Ryuku felt slightly worried, being badly outnumbered and no longer at his full powers, but there was no way they were going to give up now.

"This isn't over yet." Masako said, pulling out Taro's scroll.

Cutting her thumb with her kunai, Masako activated the scroll, then jumped back as a giant snake with a huge gash in its mouth and covered in battle scars rose up from under them. She didn't panic at first, believing that was what Taro had intended. But the medic was both panicked and furious.

"Where's the Queen my scroll was supposed to bring out? Damn you, Kabuto!" Taro realized his plan had been sabotaged.

"You never said that was going to happen!" Masako complained to Taro.

Everyone jumped back as the summon was completed. The snake was massive and not in a good mood.

"I summoned you and I order you to bring down the walls that protect Konoha, and eat Tsunade, the Hokage." Masako said boldly.

"How dare you talk to me like that, giving me orders like a pet dog!" the snake answered, incensed that she had dared to order him around.

Masako was shocked that it wouldn't do as she told him.

"What are you doing? I summoned you, so you have to listen to me!" she insisted angrily.

"A summon is never obliged to listen to the summoner who brought them out. I'll destroy Konoha and eat Tsunade after I eat you." The snake answered as it charged at her.

Masako dodged the attack as Katsuboushi defended her with a flying kick, fighting back as the snake turned on him. Believing she had nothing to lose, Masako quickly drew her kunai and charged at Gaara, but Temari quickly intervened, blocking the dagger with her folded fan before taking a swipe at Masako, barely missing her as the other girl jumped back.

"You're not going to touch my little brother." She said to Masako as she unfurled her fan completely in full battle display, her protective instinct kicking in even though Gaara didn't really need it.

Temari's chakra-laced wind hit Masako directly, but it didn't seem to do any good as Masako jumped back with surprising grace. Temari attempted to use her fan again, but before she could do anything, Masako performed a powerful wind attack of her own, destroying Temari's fan.

The strength of the attack caught Temari off guard. With her fan shredded, Temari found herself in a difficult position. Her jutsu ability was limited without her fan, and her taijutsu wasn't very good. She couldn't see Masako anymore, all they could hear was a mournful wailing that was starting to approach the threshold of pain. It was like they were in the middle of a cyclone.

"You think you're stronger then me? Orochimaru has granted us powers you could never dream of, and Taro warned me about you, I'll slice you and your siblings to pieces!" Temari tried her best to cover her ears as the wind seemed to scream the statement, so loud it was painful…

* * *

While Gaara, Temari and Kankuro were occupied with the Sound Team, it fell to the Leaf-nin to try and prevent the unanticipated summon from destroying their village. Shinobi with the ability summoned their animals in a desperate attempt to prevent the scarred snake from rearing up to knock down the tall wall that protected Konoha.

With Neji and Shino's team finally regrouped, Akamaru ran up its back and tried to attack the eyes on its head, only to get thrown off and fortunately caught by Kiba before he hit the ground. Even Kakashi's dogs, working with the pack from Kiba's clan, couldn't bite through the thick scaly hide. The snake responded by lashing its body. None of them were hit, but everyone was thrown back and scattered.

Shikamaru landed on the forest floor, the now knee deep water breaking his fall. Dazed but unhurt, he recovered himself just in time to see Roka cut his thumb and summon a single, giant crow.

"Get on Koro." Roka grabbed Shikamaru's wrist and pulled him on the crow's back, with Yumi and Sakura following before it took off.

Roka tried to dive bomb it on Koro's back, swooping with his wings back and feet outstretched but the snake simply responded by spitting venom at the giant crow, who quickly swooped up and circled high to avoid getting an eyeful.

"Four is too many, some of you will have to get off." Koro complained.

"Drop us off up on the wall, we'll help Tsunade and Katsuyu." Sakura replied pointing out their Hokage who had decided to leave the medics to help the injured and deal with the snake herself.

The crow dropped Yumi and Sakura off and they quickly help Tsunade's summoned slug, who had divided herself up and had been trying to help take the injured to safety. Now they attempted to come back together into a single body as the snake thrashed around, trying to scatter the parts and prevent her from reforming.

Seeing the summon fight was beginning to spiral out of control, Tsunade turned to the two medics.

"Yumi, Sakura, both of you go to the lab and get those sealing stones from the most recent medic research, they're in Room 538. You had better remember how to use them." She instructed.

"But aren't those still experimental?" Yumi asked.

"Well, we could always find a human sacrifice and someone of pure heart to seal the monster in instead." Tsunade replied, looking at the two medics in a not-too subtle way.

"Right, so we're going to go get the stones now." Sakura answered.

* * *

Deeper in the eastern forest, Gaara had managed to subdue much of Ryuku's powers, diverting the water with his own sand.

"He's running all his sand through the soil and the water's draining underground where I can't get to it." Ryuku realized.

"So I guessed correctly then. If there's no water, you're no longer as powerful." Gaara said, moving his sand to try and crush Ryuku.

"I don't think you want to keep doing that." Masako stated as she stood over a barely conscious Temari and Kankuro.

"No!" Gaara almost shouted as he quickly formed his sand around Temari and Kankuro instead, pulling them to safety before Masako could stab them.

He tried to fight with his sand, only to realize that the fact that most of his sand was stuck in the mucky ground draining the floodwaters. Combined with the weight of the water meant that he could defend but was unable to attack, unless he let go of his siblings.

Before the Sound-nin could begin their counter-attack, the snake suddenly fell and almost crushed both them and the Sand-nin, roaring in fury as Koro, with Roka and Shikamaru on his back, managed to ram him to the ground for a moment.

Seeing the snake's full fury and much of his water gone, Katsuboushi and Ryuku realized they were better off retreating. Han didn't need a lot of convincing, but Taro knew that leaving now would mean facing Orochimaru's wrath.

"Don't fall back! We can still win!" Taro argued as Katsuboushi pulled him back.

"Forget it, Taro, it's pointless now." The shinobi replied flatly.

"There's no way I'm going back to Orochimaru like this! Stop, I order you-" Taro's protests were cut off as Masako rammed her fist into him, knocking the medic out cold before Katsuoboushi caught him.

With Taro out cold and Katsuoboushi preparing to retreat, the raised bodies suddenly stopped and began to collapse, returning to their previous state.

"I don't care if you're coming or not Masako, but I'd sooner deal with Orochimaru-sama then this, I'm out of here." Ryuku said as he formed his hand seals.

"But we didn't kill anyone from our mission." Masako complained.

"Forget it, the summon's done and Gaara's using his sand to drain my water. We've lost the element of surprise and Kabuto wrecked the entire plan. That snake is probably going to destroy the walls and eat Tsunade for us anyways, let's just get out of here before he eats us too!" Ryuku replied as their forms melted into the rapidly dropping water level, leaving the bodies to go limp and rot and Konoha to deal with the furious snake lord.

* * *

As Gaara drained the last of the water, Yumi and Sakura returned with the stones and finally began to attempt Tsunade's binding jutsu. They quickly traced out the paths in the soggy soil to channel their chakra to bind the snake, but when he saw what they were doing, simply thrashed around and wiped out their marks. Trying to buy the medics some time, Anko called out as many of her own snakes as she could, but the snake was much bigger and within minutes had eaten Anko's summons.

They were starting to run out of ideas to stop the snake. Unable to get close with getting venom spit at them, Koro landed on top of the wall with Roka and Shikamaru to catch their breath. They jumped out of the way just in time as Tsunade managed to prevent the snake from trying to thrash into the wall, punching and kicking it for all she was worth.

"So the rumors are true, slug woman! You are a tough old hag." The giant snake pulled back for a moment.

"I only let one person call me that, and you're not him." Tsunade answered with another punch to its side.

Before Shikamaru and his teammate could do anything to help her, they caught sight of a figure covered in mud emerging from the muddy sludgy water about ten feet below the outer side of the wall. They jumped back with weapons drawn as a raised corpse started to come out of the floodwaters and climb up the wall after them, before calming down as they caught sight of the familiar three-fingered hand.

"Relax, it's just me." Subatsu said as he hoisted himself up on the wall.

"You!" The snake pulled away from Tsunade and gave an angry charge at the captain. Subatsu and Shikamaru joined Roka on Koro's back as the giant crow made a brave charge, knocking the snake back.

"Friend of yours, sensei?" Roka asked.

"I seem to recall giving him a free sword swallowing lesson a number of years back." Subatsu answered, recognizing the large scar on the side of the snake's jaw.

As Koro flew into the air, the snake tried to lash out and close its jaws on them but only grabbed air before suddenly being wrenched backwards. Sakura and Chouji had grabbed the snake by the tail and were now pulling him back with all their might as Yumi tried to retraced the sealing pattern with her naginata.

"What are they doing?" Roka asked.

"Trying to help Tsunade with a jutsu to seal it."

The snake tried to turn around, but Tsunade grabbed the back of its head and held it. Alternating between thrashing wildly to try and wipe out the circle and spitting its corrosive venom at Koro, Subatsu, Roka and Shikamaru hung on their wild ride as they soared up with breakneck speed.

"Shikamaru-sama, Roka and Koro can't do this alone, call out Noren-sama." Kouichi urged, gliding by.

Shikamaru tried to perform his jutsu several times, but needing at least one hand to hang on to Koro as the snake continued to attack, it was impossible to do it properly.

"Here, I'll show you a little trick to it." Subatsu replied as he suddenly reached for Shikamaru.

Shikamaru thought Subatsu was just going grab his hand or something, so it was a total shock to him when Subatsu simply grabbed him by the seat of his pants and the scruff of his neck…

And flung him off Roka's crow.

Shikamaru screamed as he did a freefall. The ground was rushing up to meet him as he cut his thumb, performed his seals faster then he ever had before and summoned the Emperor of Bats.

"Who woke me up? I was having a nice sleep. Oh, hello Shikamaru-sama, what can I do for you?" Noren yawned lazily.

"I need you to fly or we're going to crash into the ground!" Shikamaru shouted out his order, horrified that he was now still free falling with a giant sleepy bat under him.

"Why, so we are." The Emperor of Bats noticed calmly as he opened his wings just in time, skimming the muddy ground as he pulled out of the dive with Shikamaru clinging white-knuckled onto his back.

"Long time no see, Noren." Roka's crow called to Shikamaru's ride as he tossed the end of a rope to Shikamaru.

"It's good to be out, Koro." Noren answered.

Holding the length of rope between them, bird and bat king quickly flew around the snake, tying the rope around his neck and jaws, keeping the mouth shut. Unable to spit venom any longer and partially tied down, Tsunade was finally able to hold the head completely still. As he and Roka struggled to stay on their wild rides, Shikamaru felt giddy and sick, weak from the summon. His head swam as they did their best to prevent the snake from moving too much as Yumi and Sakura were finally able to successfully trace out the paths in the dirt that were needed to perform their jutsu.

As the stones that were designed to hold demons without the use of sacrifices or living containers glowed and absorbed chakra, the summon disappeared like a bad dream, sucked up into the special stone. Tsunade picked up the stone and stuffed it into a lacquered box with odd markings on it.

"What was that?" Noren asked as he and Koro circled down to the ground.

"Usually you need a person to act as a container when you seal a monster, but they've recently discovered these stones that can contain chakra in a similar way. They were still experimental, we didn't really know if it was going to work though." Sakura explained.

"Ah, I see." Noren replied as he lowered an unconscious Shikamaru to the ground.

"Is he okay?" Yumi asked.

"He used up all his chakra to defend his village, what an amazing shinobi. Well, Shikamaru, I'm honored to be summoned by you, but now I have to go home. Keep an eye on him for me, Kouichi." Noren instructed his servant with a yawn as he disappeared to in a puff of smoke.

Kouichi circled overhead as Neji's team, Hinata's team and Chouji came rushing over. Roka seemed okay, but Shikamaru was completely out cold.

"Do something!" Ino said to Yumi.

Yumi quickly put her ear to Shikamaru's chest, before realizing what Neji already knew.

"He's asleep." Neji and the medic said at once as everyone else fell over.

"I'm not surprised. That happened to me the first time I managed to bring out my master summon, I slept for days afterwards. A mission following by a huge summon like that, he must be completely exhausted. Poor guy." Roka explained as he hoisted his teammate over his shoulder.

About three ANBU and a few Leaf shinobi had been killed and many more were injured, but of every single peasant from Field country who had made up the makeshift army, not a single one left Konoha's forests.

As the teams regrouped, squeezing the water out of their soaking wet clothing and accounting for their casualties, Lee and Tenten motioned for Sakura, who saw a bloody and bruised Gaara staggering towards them, using the strength he had left to hold his Tenten and Kankuro in his sand until he was sure they were safe.

"Please-" he begged as Sakura leaned closer to hear him better.

"Yes?" Sakura asked.

"Please help my brother and sister." Gaara whispered in her ear before he passed out, exhausted and badly hurt himself.

* * *

As he came to, Shikamaru wondered if it was worth getting up. He felt nice and warm, it was daylight and he had clean sheets draped on him. The last thing he could recall was his wild rodeo on the back of the Emperor of bats as he fought a giant snake. It was all in a day's work, and he really didn't feel like working at that moment.

"I'm so glad you're safe, Shikamaru-sama." A familiar voice squeaked as he came to his senses.

He opened his eyes, aware that he was on his back. He placed his hand on his belly and felt something warm and furry.

"I'm in the hospital?" Shikamaru realized as he opened his eyes, sat up at stretched, careful not to throw his bat off.

"Yes, the attempted invasion from Suna has been repelled. How much do you recall?" Kouichi asked.

"I seem to recall losing sight of you sometime after we first ran into those bodies around Konoha." Shikamaru called the bat on his disappearing act.

"I didn't want to be in your way?" Kouichi ventured.

"Sure." Shikamaru answered sardonically.

"Can you explain to me why am I in the hospital?" he then asked, changing the subject.

"Yes, your parents became worried after you didn't wake up for several days and brought you here. I'll fetch a medic for you." The bat flew out of the slightly open door. He returned with Sakura after a few minutes, who seemed to be in a big hurry.

"I've got a lot of work to do, so I'll keep this quick; you're tests say you're fine, all you need is a shot." Sakura checked his chart.

"What kind?" Shikamaru asked.

"All in one. Vitamins, antibiotics, and you need a vaccine update." Sakura answered.

"After everything else that's happened, this is practically a vacation." Shikamaru replied as he held out his arm.

Sakura raised an eyebrow in response.

"Aren't you going to inject me in the arm?" he asked.

"You might want to cover your ears for this." Sakura said to Kouichi before drawing the curtain.

The bat heard the sound of Sakura picking him up and turning him over, before Shikamaru gave a shriek. Sakura pulled the curtain back to reveal Shikamaru now lying on his stomach, rubbing his rear.

"Why did you do that?" he demanded.

"I can't give this type of injection intravenously, had to be given into muscle tissue." Sakura explained before he could ask.

"Couldn't you have at least warned me?" Shikamaru complained.

"It goes faster if you don't see it coming." She answered without a hint of apology.

As he rubbed his butt, Shikamaru noticed a rather familiar type of book in a pink and flowery motif sticking out of Sakura's medic pack.

"Is it just you two, or are all medics plain crazy?" he asked her.

"I think you have to be crazy to some degree in order to enjoy this line of work. Anyways, you're free to go, just sign yourself out at the front desk." Sakura said as filled in his chart.

"Sakura, we need help out here…" someone called her from down the hall.

"Coming!" Sakura's fading steps were met with the steps of another approaching.

Shikamaru responded by scuttling under the covers, not really in the mood to see visitors.

"You aren't happy to see me?" Neji's voice asked him through the blanket as he set a small bundle down on the table next to the bed.

"Normally I would be, but Sakura just gave me a needle in the rear." Shikamaru responded to his crush as he started to get out of the bed, slightly unsteady on his feet after lying down for so long.

"Want me to kiss it better?" Neji asked with a smirk.

"Actually, I'd rather have a shower." Shikamaru answered as he stumbled to the adjoining washroom as he noticed that Neji was starting to follow him in.

"Alone." He added as he shut the door.

"And yes, normally showering together would be a very erotic thing to do. But considering that I haven't washed in a week, somehow I don't think it would be that much fun." Shikamaru continued as he ran the shower, not even needing to hear his thoughts to know what Neji wanted.

"I wouldn't worry about it. Sakura moved you around while Yumi gave you a sponge bath all over yesterday." Neji remarked from the main room.

"What?!" Shikamaru nearly slipped and fell in the shower, the bathtub ring being all that kept him from hitting his head.

"I was just kidding." Neji said through the door.

"You know what, I think I'll take a bath instead." Shikamaru answered.

* * *

Shikamaru returned to his room to find that Neji had unwrapped the parcel he had brought with him. It was a bento box full of all kinds of fancy sushi he had brought with him. Picking up a maki (rolled) piece, he pushed Shikamaru back onto the bed, then climbed on top of him and placed the sushi in his mouth, sharing it in a kiss. After swallowing the food, Neji started to work his way up the side Shikamaru's neck and ear.

"Ow, did you just bite my ear?" Shikamaru said, more surprised then angered.

"I like to eat at places with good silverware." Neji replied.

Shikamaru responded by picking up a piece of shrimp nigiri, then moved as if he wanted to feed it to Neji.

Neji opened his mouth, expecting Shikamaru to feed him, but instead Shikamaru playfully popped the whole thing in his mouth at the last moment.

Before Neji could respond, they overheard some muffled voices outside which they recognized as Ino and Chouji. Part of him wanted to be friendly with Shikamaru's old team, but the other part of him was annoyed at having to deal with Ino and Chouji, just when he thought he had Shikamaru all to himself.

Then he got a wicked idea.

"Yeah, that's it, spank me harder!" Neji did his best fake orgasm moans, hoping to scare them off.

His actions had the opposite effect though, and Ino kicked the door open like a firefighter breaking down the door of a burning building.

* * *

Deciding to leave his master alone, Koichi had discreetly fluttered out of the room as Neji had closed the door to a crack, just in time to see Ino and Chouji walking down the hall with flowers for Shikamaru. Flying in front of them, he did his best to block their approach.

"You two need to come back later, Shikamaru is, well, busy." He said quickly.

"And why can't we see our teammate?" Ino asked, trying to push him aside.

"No, wait!" the bat squeaked frantically.

Hearing two voices behind the door from where they were standing, Chouji stopped, starting to get the hint, but Ino wasn't having any of it.

"Our teammate almost died, pulled off the most amazing move ever, was out for several days and we can't see him? I don't have time for this, get out of the way." she said, grabbing Koichi and tossing him over her shoulder in frustration.

Ino suddenly stopped as they reached the slightly open door, able to make out the voices more clearly now.

"Ow, did you just bite my ear?" Shikamaru's voice was more surprised then angered.

"I like to eat at places with good silverware." Neji replied.

Ino and Chouji's eyes widened in surprise. Chouji began to pull at her sleeve trying to get her to leave, but Ino ignored him.

"What are they doing in there?" Ino put her ear up to the door.

"Yeah, that's it, spank me harder!"

Before Chouji could stop her, Ino kicked the door wide open.

'Aw, I thought Shikamaru really was spanking him.' Ino's thoughts horrified Shikamaru.

"Aw, man, I mean, um, hey! What do you think you're doing, not seeing us first!" Ino hid her disappointment and started making demands.

"What?" Shikamaru asked, still recovering from hearing what she was thinking.

"I thought we were friends."

"We still are." He mumbled feebly.

"Chouji and I have been with you since we finished at the academy, while he-" Ino pointed to Neji "…wasn't even aware of your existence until the chuunin exams. By all properties, you should have called for us before him as soon as you were better." She complained.

"You're going on about what's proper? You kicked the door down to see what we were doing!" Shikamaru retorted.

"Well what would you have done if you were me? He was moaning for you to spank him! Well fine, you go on and spend the rest of the day lip wrestling with Neji, see what I care!" Ino pouted and sauntered out of the room, leaving Chouji standing in the doorway.

There was an awkward silence for a moment before Shikamaru spoke.

"You're not upset with me too, are you?" he asked.

"Don't take it personally, Shikamaru. She hasn't been in a good mood over a lot of things lately, I think this suddenly reminded her of how she's still upset over how Neji rejected her during the chuunin exams." Chouji acknowledged Neji as he apologized for Ino.

Shikamaru finally saw how he had been neglecting his old teammates.

"You don't have apologize for her, I didn't realize how much I was ignoring you. I'll make up to both of you, okay? We'll all go to the next festival together, my treat, how's that sound?" he suggested.

"Great! Hey, why don't you and Neji bring your teams too, I think having more people would improve her mood." Chouji suggested.

"Thanks Chouji, I know I can always count on you." He said to his best friend.

"Don't worry about Ino, I'll go and talk to her." Chouji answered.

Catching up with Ino in the hallway, Chouji could see her gazing over the balcony, her mood growing darker as she watched the group on the lower floor.

"Ino?" Chouji turned to see what she was looking at.

The two of them watched Hinata, with a group of older boys around her. With her developing body, others were now starting to take notice of Hinata and now the group was presenting the shy girl with gifts and competing with each other for her affection. As they watched Hinata, blushing deeply at the attention of so many suitors, Chouji could practically feel the envy coming from Ino. Chouji started to feel nervous, this wasn't helping her mood.

"I'm not jealous, I'm still the prettiest kunochi around." Ino stated the exact opposite of her feelings.

"Ino, I know you're feeling down right now, but I'm sure things are going to pick up and then-"

Chouji couldn't finish his attempt to cheer her up as he saw Yumi pass by, hand-in-hand with a sickly chuunin who had a sword strapped to his back and a slight smile on his face.

Ino and Chouji both sweatdropped as they slumped to their knees in the hallway, stuck in their own personal ruts.

* * *

"You don't really want me to spank you, do you?" Shikamaru asked.

Before Neji could answer, the door flung open again.

"Hey, you finally woke up. Hi Neji." Yumi poked her head into the room.

The pair turned to the door, annoyed at being interrupted again.

"It's not that I don't appreciate your concern, but you know there are times when people just want to be alone?" Shikamaru asked.

"If you two want privacy, a hospital isn't a very good place to be." She answered.

"Considering that we live with our families, neither are our houses." Shikamaru replied.

It was true; there really weren't any good places they knew of where they could be alone together. At the Hyuuga estate, Neji constantly had relatives going in and out the doors at all hours of the day, someone was bound to hear them through the thin inner walls. It wasn't much better at Shikamaru's home, where at least one of his parents was always around. But Yumi had a solution for their dilemma.

"Then just go to a love hotel." The medic suggested.

"Love hotel?" Shikamaru recalled hearing about one once, but having never used one, didn't quite know how it was different from a normal hotel.

"It's a hotel where you can rent rooms by the hour." she explained.

"Sounds seedy." Neji answered.

"No it's not, think of it as a nice quiet love nest, where they have everything you need. There's a really nice one just down the road from the hospital, you can't miss it, and you can get these really nice theme rooms for great prices." Yumi said as Hayataru poked his head in the room, obviously looking for his medic girlfriend.

"Wait, how do you know so much about it?" Shikamaru asked as he and Neji slowly turned to Hayataru.

The sickly chuunin simply responded with a wink.

* * *

No longer in the mood, Neji left Shikamaru's room to find Subatsu leaning against the wall. The old ninja's presence didn't surprise him at all.

"I see you're assessing us both from a distance." Neji said to the scarred chuunin.

Subatsu nodded, affirming what Neji already knew. Shinobi that showed a lot of talent at an early age found themselves having increasingly difficult missions thrown their way to test their skills and see how they would react, quietly nudging them along a path to jounin. After their roles in defending Konoha from the seige, he knew that he, Shikamaru and Sakura were currently known as Konoha's rising stars.

"Not just myself, there are others, so don't let your performance slip. Tell me Neji, how old are you?" Subatsu asked him.

"Fifteen, why do you ask?" Neji questioned him.

"Before your father died, I promised him I would tell you something important, when you were old enough." He replied.

That got Neji's attention.

"What?"

"Not here. Come by my office in the Academy's upper floors at night." Subatsu answered.

Neji nodded and left without a word. After the son of his old student was gone, the veteran quickly hurried into Shikamaru's room, his attention turned to his current student.

"Sensei-" before Shikamaru could say anything else, Subatsu grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and hauled him off the bed and out of the hospital room.

"Come on." He replied as he hauled him out to the waiting area, where he took out a rather old shogi set, the pieces worn smooth by years of use.

"We can play a serious game later. The Kazekage's on the other side of that wall, talking with his siblings, I need you to listen in for the report." Subatsu said as he set up the board.

* * *

Unaware of Shikamaru's eavesdropping, Gaara presented tea to Temari, who hesitantly accepted as the three siblings quietly discussed their next move. All three were recovering slowly from their injuries, and Gaara was well enough to walk around town if he wished.

"It is as you feared, Taro and Katsuobushi are working for Orochimaru. I remember seeing our father talking to them, but they never spoke to me, what do you know about them?" Gaara asked Temari, trusting his sister's analytical skills.

"Katsuobushi is quite powerful, but he never was much of a tactician, which is probably why he wasn't promoted. He wasn't born in Suna either, I just recall Taro bringing him in to meet our father one day, saying he found him in the desert. Taro cared for him, and gave him the power to control various insects, but I don't remember them ever showing any bond or warmth to each other, or anyone else for that matter. I don't imagine Orochimaru will be too pleased that they failed, but I don't think he'll kill them, they're too valuable for that." She answered.

"First those monsters, then the trouble with our water supplies and now this, what else could go wrong?" Kankuro complained.

"At least the treaty with the Leaf has been agreed on, but we could be in a very difficult position if anyone finds out how bad our water supply is." Temari replied.

"We will agree to Tsunade's terms, everything should be fine as long as the wells hold out." Gaara decided.

"Where are you going Gaara?" Temari asked.

"I have to talk with someone." He replied as he left the room.

"I wonder what made him change so much." Kankuro wondered as they watched their younger brother leave.

"I think something happened to him at the chuunin exams." Temari replied.

'It was the first time he ever showed empathy.'

* * *

It was true that their lives had improved after Gaara had taken the role as Kazekage. But Temari had not realized how much her younger brother had changed until a time shortly after returning home from the chuunin exams, when she received some bad news. Several Sand-nin had been killed in a routine scouting mission along their borders, including a childhood friend of hers. Only some torn bloody fabric, equipment and hitai-ate had been recovered.

The loss she felt had been even more to her then her father, the Kazekage, who had always been very cold and distant. She remembered how she had collapsed at the shock, crying softly over the scroll she had received with the news.

Gaara came in, noticed her crying and picked up the scroll. She hadn't bothered to tell anyone.

"I'm sorry." He gently knelt down and hugged her.

Temari had been so shocked that she stopped crying for a moment, before accepting the embrace.

* * *

Outside Temari and Kankuro's room, Gaara passed Shikamaru and Subatsu as they played shougi at a nearby table.

"Is Roka all right?" Shikamaru asked.

"He's fine. They have him on cleanup duty with his crows and vines disposing of the bodies and making cover until the forest grows back." His teacher answered between the clicking of the game pieces.

Gaara walked by with a nod of acknowledgement, unaware that Shikamaru had heard his entire conversation with his siblings. They waited a few more minutes after he had turned a corner, before the discussion changed.

"Sensei, were you aware of problems with their water supplies?" Shikamaru asked.

"No. I know Suna has several sources of water, the oasis is their main source, but if that were to dry up, they have several wells within their borders that they guard very closely. I'll discuss it with the Hokage." He twirled a captured shogi piece between his fingers.

"By the way, sorry I had to kick you off Koro's back, I wouldn't have done it if I didn't believe that you wouldn't have been able to pull that summon off." He added.

"What do you think they might do next?" Shikamaru asked the veteran.

"I don't imagine Orochimaru will be too pleased when he finds out their attack failed." His teacher replied.

"It was confusing, I don't think even they knew what they were going to do next. How could they have been so powerful, but so disorganized?" Shikamaru asked.

"I would suspect it has something to do with the fact that they didn't have Orochimaru's full support, and I don't believe all of them were originally raised as ninjas. Plus with the recent turmoil in Field country, they didn't have a lot of resources." The conversation continued on through the game.

* * *

Walking around the hospital, Gaara located Sakura comforting a very distraught Hinata.

"I just didn't know who else to turn to." Hinata held back tears as Sakura held her hand and reassured her.

"Hinata, don't feel as if you're alone. Medics give emergency shelter to anyone who can't go back home. If you don't feel safe and need a place for the night, I want you to go to this address, okay? Call on me any time, I promise I'll do whatever I can to help you." Sakura promised.

"Thanks Sakura." She said, wiping away her tears.

'What a week.' Sakura thought as she watched as Hinata tucked the card into her coat before leaving.

"Excuse me." The Kazekage suddenly said to Sakura as he stepped forward from the shadows.

As Gaara approached her, Sakura felt an inner conflict. As a person, she wasn't too happy about having to help someone who had almost killed her in the past. She also knew that as a shinobi still considered to be of genin rank, she had to show deference to the Kage of another village, particularly one who was an ally of the Leaf. And as a medic, she knew she had to put her personal feelings aside and treat everyone without discrimination.

"What can I do for you?" Sakura asked.

To her surprise the only thing he wanted was to protect Temari and Kankuro.

"I have a request; don't tell anyone about what you saw before or after treated my siblings." Gaara answered.

"If you're worried about privacy, I won't talk about it with my friends, but as a medic, it is my duty to file a report on their injuries." Sakura replied.

"I mean, do not tell anyone I allowed that shinobi to escape to protect my brother and sister, it may give me a positive opinion in Konoha, but Suna would see it as a mark of cowardice against all three of us."

* * *

For all the devastation that had been caused by the fighting, it had brought some good, in that the attack and retreat had helped bring down the floodwaters from all the inhabited parts of Konoha and sent a message to other villages that even when they were vulnerable, the Leaf was not to be underestimated.

"Well, I don't think it could have gone any better. We've pushed the Sound completely out of the surrounding area, and the Kazekage has signed the treaty." Tsunade thumbed through the mission report as Shikamaru and the team finished their audience with her.

"Do you require anything else from us, Tsunade-sama?" Subatsu asked, feeling very proud of his team.

"Just enjoy the party next week, you've all earned a rest."

Author's Notes: Let's see how close we can get to a lemon before I'm strangled. Don't feel upset Neji and Shikamaru got interrupted twice, we'll have some good stuff in the next chapter.

Also figured I needed to make some bad guys. Ryuku of the Mist, Masako and Han (none of them have last names), you'll see why when I explore them in a bit more depth later on. I wound up making up some Sound-nin as an afterthought. I've decided to create Ryuku of the Mist as being the container for the three-tailed shark demon Isonade, to have someone who matches Gaara's power. He can make his physical form into water and he's able manipulate water to make it into ice and steam, making shields, generating storms and whirlpools, direct its flow to some extent and he can change his physical form into water. Masako can lace any object with her chakra to make it into a charged explosive, and she can manipulate wind in the same way as Temari, but she doesn't use a fan, this is due to her cursed seal.


	12. Hizashi's Legacy

Troublesome Fate

By: Lone Ronin

Part 11: Hizashi's Legacy

His gamble failed, Taro prepared to face the consequences as he stood before Orochimaru and Kabuto, with Katsuobushi, Ryuku, Masako and Han kneeling next to him.

"It wasn't my fault, Orochimaru-sama. I gave Han a scroll to activate their cursed seals, but Kabuto sabotaged my plans, if anything, he acted against you." Taro countered.

"I had to stop your plans. You were going to kill Hyuuga Neji and the other bloodlines I was after for my research." Kabuto answered.

"That's a lie! I was going to catch them for Orochimari-sama." Taro tried to claim.

The room fell silent as Katsuobushi stood and walked up to Orochimaru and stood by his side and Taro realized he had been betrayed.

"I made you what you are Katsuobushi, how could you do this to me?" Taro asked the insect user.

"I'm a ninja, it's my nature." his former ally replied.

"Han, help me. If I die, you'll be cursed forever." Taro tried out in desperation.

"I know you can't lift my cursed seal, Katsuobushi told me the truth." Han replied, knowing he couldn't help Taro even had he wanted to.

Realizing how much trouble he was in, the medic was trembling now. He turned and ran down the hallway, knowing it was useless as Kabuto's glasses gleamed and Katsuobushi began to raise his arms.

Even in the darkness, it was still possible to make out the shadows cast by the insects. Hearing Taro's screams echoing through the hall, Han, Masako and Ryuku also tried to run, but a searing pain ran through them and the three of them collapsed.

"Please stop, Orochimaru-sama, I'll serve you well." Ryuku begged through gritted teeth.

"Under Orochimaru-sama's orders, I'm in charge of you three now." Katsuobushi informed them as he watched his new master punish them.

"Oh Masako, I wish we had never left home." Han whispered.

* * *

The lights were off in Subatsu's office as Neji opened the door and quietly crept in. He had snuck out of his house late at night to talk with his father's old teacher. The generally reclusive nature of most ANBU, combined with the fact that it was considered very improper to discuss anything of a personal nature with one unless they gave specific permission, had made Neji wary about approaching Subatsu, not sure if he would want to talk. 

With no sign of the old veteran, Neji scanned the photos and documents in the frames on the back wall. At eye level were the few documents that showed when he had been promoted in rank, genin, chuunin and jounin, followed by an ANBU mask and that was it. Most ninja would have had more documents from when they had completed significant missions or been awarded other honors, but this wall was a total blank. The distinctive mark of ANBU, who could never discuss their missions.

Neji looked at the other major photos that ninja kept; the one of them with their first team when they were genin, and the photo from when they were jounin with their own first genin team. The first photo was quite disturbing, Subatsu didn't have any team members and he wasn't smiling. It was only him and his jounin sensei, whose figure was scratched out with black ink. It was very unusual; the bond a genin had with their jounin teacher was considered almost as important as their relationship with their parents. The second photo of him as a jounin, not yet badly scarred, with his own genin team was much more amusing, with a very young Gai giving a huge grin and hugging his teammates, his own father with a neutral expression, and his uncle Hiashi looking like a sourpuss.

"Are you enjoying my life?" Subatsu's voice at the door made Neji startle, realizing that the former ANBU had stood right in his blind spot.

Not sure how to answer this, Neji didn't reply, but just turned around and looked at him, keeping his face neutral to hide how unnerved he was at the realization that he probably had known about the blind spot. The former ANBU returned the mute expression for a moment as the moonlight seemed to illuminate Neji as he stood in front of the photo of his father and uncle with Gai, sharply reminding him of his age.

"Are you all right?" Subatsu finally broke the silence.

"Did you stand there on purpose?" Neji asked.

"Why do you ask? You were able to see me coming with that bloodline ability of yours, right?" Subatsu replied cryptically.

Neji studied the veteran carefully, but couldn't really tell from his body language if he had stood in the blind spot on purpose or if had just been a fluke. He had been expecting Subatsu to look intimidating with the burns and his missing fingers still visible in the moonlight, but instead he seemed uncomfortable, almost nervous to see Neji.

"I wanted to speak with you sooner, but I had promised Hiashi not to say anything until he was able to give you the scroll your father wrote to you."

Neji didn't reply as he continued.

"Just before he died, Hizashi approached and asked me to hang on to these for you." Subatsu reached onto a large shelf nearby, pulled out two wooden boxes warped with age and set them on the desk.

The first was about the size of a shoebox, while the second was slightly larger then a bento box.

Neji opened the larger box first to reveal a matching white tunic and trousers, with black belt and valuable ninja equipment. He could definitely put those to good use, but the value of the smaller box wasn't quite clear to him at first. The second box contained what seemed to be papers with the names of different stores and shops throughout Konoha, such as Ichiraku, but he couldn't understand the legal jargon or percentages that accompanied them.

"What are these?" Neji asked.

"Well, I don't know how the rules are with the Hyuuga now, but in your father's time, the rules governing the Main and Branch houses were much more strict. Branch members were forbidden to own any significant amount of money. So instead he and Hiashi went behind their father's back and bought promisary notes as a loophole and I hid them for him." The old veteran explained.

"Promisary notes?" Neji had never heard of that before, he had little interest in finance.

"If a business needs to borrow money to say, expand their shop, then they would borrow money and in return give the lender a note promising to pay back the loan with interest. You father would buy the notes because they had to be issued in his name, then whenever he wanted money, he would cash them in." Subatsu answered.

Neji briefly looked at the boxes, then glanced up at the retired ANBU. His expression seemed to hold a mixture of sadness and pain, full of the need to tell him something, but reluctant to do so.

"There's something else you want to tell me, isn't there?" Neji asked.

"Yes, you might want to sit down for this." Subatsu motioned to the chair across from his desk.

"It's something I've always regretted. When your father died, I tried to recover his body, but I failed." The veteran replied.

Hearing this, Neji gripped the chair. He felt himself go cold as Subatsu continued.

"It was a very sensitive time, Kakashi and I were the only ones left of our generation and your father's generation had lost many of their best. The long war with Kumogakure (Hidden Village of Rock) in Lightning Country had only ended a few years ago and the Hokage had just signed a bitter treaty, with both of us agreeing to remain out of each other's territories. I managed to track the group transporting Hizashi's body as to the edge of our borders, but it became more difficult to not be detected as I became less familiar with the terrain, and the Rock ninja began to suspect something was wrong. Just as I was about to enter their borders, a bird with a message from the Hokage instructed me to abort the mission, it was decided that the risk of being caught breaking the treaty was too high. I don't think Hizashi would have wanted the war to start all over again to simply bring him back."

"What do you think happened to my father's body?" Neji asked, dreading the answer.

Subatsu hesitated for a moment, knowing that the truth was difficult to hear.

"There are many medics out there who would be willing to pay a fortune in the black market for an intact adult body to study." He answered.

Hearing this, Neji literally felt sick, the sensation of someone grabbing his heart and squeezing it invaded his chest again. To think that his father had not only died so tragically, but that someone had bought his body to mutilate afterwards. He reached forward and grabbed the desk, too upset to speak.

"He agreed to die in order to ensure that the treaty would stay intact and he wanted to give the freedom that he never had. He knew that Hiashi, being considered part of the Main House, would be able to give you opportunities that he never could." The veteran continued.

Neji gripped the desk so hard his hand started to hurt. He could feel his grief starting well up again from where he had kept it hidden for so long. He didn't want to cry again the way he had when Hiashi had dragged him away from his father's body when they came to take it.

"Let it out, Neji, there's no shame." Subatsu spoke more gently to him then he had to anyone in a long time.

Neji couldn't hold it back any longer; he slumped over on the desk, sobbing quietly.

* * *

A few days after Subatsu's revelation to Neji (but unaware that it took place), Shikamaru stood in front of Chouji's favorite barbeque restaurant in his best yukata that he only wore to festivals, decorated with a swirling painted pattern of deer hiding in a forest of pines on a deep blue background, waiting for Neji and his friends. They were meeting for lunch, before he and Neji planned to spend the rest of the day together. 

After stopping the siege, Konoha settled into a routine of cleaning, preparation and celebration. Even though the fighting had badly damaged the eastern forests and damaged their defensive wall in many place, the floodwaters were now completely gone, replenishing the flat fields and forests. Now after just a week valuable new plants and crops had begun to push up from the soil.

Things were looking politically good for Konoha as well, having secured a strong alliance with Suna. Deciding that it was better to rest and complete diplomatic procedures since they were in Konoha anyways, Gaara had decided to stay until Temari and Kankuro recovered from their injuries at the hospital. Hoping to make a good impression on their guests, Tsunade decided that it was best to have a very lavish Victory Day celebration, as well as the chuunin exams soon after. Besides, everyone needed to try and enjoy themselves after the disruptive attack on the Leaf, not knowing when they would have to fight again.

November 10th was the Day of Victory, the biggest festival of the year, when the Fourth Hokage's victory against the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox and the sacrifices of fallen shinobi were celebrated. In addition the candles and prayers for the dead, there was drinking, celebration and a dance re-enacting the defeat of the Demon Fox was going to be performed as a giant paper figure of the Kyuubi was burned in effigy amid fireworks, while a performer dressed as Yondaime set the paper Kyuubi alight at the height of the celebration. It was also the best opportunity for Neji and Shikamaru to enjoy a date together, when they both had the evening to themselves and there was no one around to interfere or interrupt.

Waiting for everyone to arrive Shikamaru found himself listening in on the underlying current of activity. Quite accustomed to being able to hear people's thoughts, the generally positive feelings and renewed sense of hope throughout the village felt good. Kouichi, his bat fluttered about town with the forest birds, while he could feel Neji approaching, as well his current and former teammates.

He continued listening while watching the sky, when a pair of arms twined gracefully around his chest and he turned around to see a familiar white-eyed face grinning back at him.

"Quit being troublesome, I know you're not Neji." Shikamaru said, annoyed.

"How did you know?" Yumi asked playfully as she transformed back to her normal self.

Wearing a short-sleeved kimono with butterflies darting in and out of a meadow instead of her typical medic's outfit and naginata on her back, she looked very cute.

"Neji's thoughts feel confident and smooth, sort of like a river, your thoughts feel like a hummingbird on a caffeine bender. Neji never grins, his skin is softer then yours and he likes to stick his hands up my shirt when he holds me that way." Shikamaru answered with a lazy half-smirk.

"Speaking of Neji, I've got the results for those tests you had before you left the hospital. I'm guessing you two are going to be taking advantage of the festivities tonight?" Yumi said as passed him an envelope.

Shikamaru quickly tore open the envelope, Yumi's hint not lost on him. Victory Day was also well known as a good time for debauchery as if one partner might have to leave for a mission and never come back.

"I don't see the reason for taking a test to confirm something I don't already know." Shikamaru commented as he scanned the results of his blood test.

In the days leading up to Victory Day, Neji had made it quite clear what he wanted to do, and although he was looking forward to it, the idea of anal sex worried him.

"Well, condom or not, you better make sure you go slow, and use lots of lube." Yumi advised.

"Do I even want to know?" Shikamaru asked, knowing by now that however sweet she seemed in the day, his medic teammate probably did things with her boyfriend that made whatever he was going to do with Neji that night look tame by comparison.

"Probably not." She answered

"You're so tense sometimes, you know? You'd be surprised how far a hug can go." The medic added as she gave him a big hug, just for the hell of it as Neji spproached them, earning a sweatdrop from him and Shikamaru.

Yumi just smiled as Ino, Chouji, Lee, Tenten and Roka caught up with the rest of them and they entered the restaurant. Lunch started well enough, the restaurant was packed with the smells and sounds of food being grilled and drinks being poured. Shikamaru sat next to Neji, who looked regal in his white yukata with a simple geometric pattern of navy diamonds on the belt and trim. In a contrast that seemed almost like the sky and the earth, Roka sat across from them, wearing a slate blue-grey yukata, which gave an odd sheen when the light shone on them in the right way. Chouji wore a yukata with pines and mountains held with a simple belt, as well as a sand colored vest with the Akimichi family crest on it. Lee wore a green yukata and of course his leg warmers could be seen peeking out from under the hem of his robes. Tenten looked lovely in her pink and gold full-length mandarin dress, while Ino's light purple kimono with blue satin edging had an intricate garden scene with flowers.

As their order arrived, Neji and Shikamaru quietly exchanged glances as their friends hit it off. As their thin slices of meats and vegetables cooked, Roka, Lee and Chouji were discussing their favorite restaurants, while Yumi, Ino and Tenten were going on about where they liked to shop for hair ornaments and how to apply make-up just right.

Shikamaru's attention was suddenly directed elsewhere as Neji picked up some food with his chopsticks and smirked, his tongue slipping out to lick his slice of beef in a suggestive manner before he ate it. Shikamaru's eyes widened slightly, then darted around to see if anyone was watching.

He suddenly became aware of Neji's foot sliding past his own under the table. Shikamaru tried to slip away discreetly, reluctant to show any outward affection, but Neji had only with one thing on his mind and really didn't care what anyone else thought.

"Tenten, what's going on?" Lee suddenly asked as Roka and Chouji both went for the same piece of meat at once.

"What do you mean?" Tenten asked.

"Shikamaru and won't look at you in the eye and he's acting really uncomfortable next to Neji, does he think that you and Neji are dating?" he was genuinely confused.

The table fell silent as everyone realized that Lee really didn't know that Neji and Shikamaru were an item.

"You really don't know??" Ino asked.

"Know what? What does everyone know?" Lee looked at the rest of them in earnest.

"Um, why don't you ask Shikamaru?" Yumi suggested.

"Why? Is Tenten dating him?" Lee asked as everyone else almost fell over.

"Shikamaru's gay and Neji is his boyfriend." Chouji finally said as he took advantage of Roka's hesitation to snatch the meat from the grill and eat it.

Everyone looked at Lee, not sure how he would react to this information.

It was an awkward moment as Lee blinked for a second or two.

"I would have never guessed." Lee answered.

That did it. Ino, Tenten, Yumi, Chouji and Roka all fell over in the restaurant booth.

* * *

"That was a great lunch!" Roka said as they left the restaurant. 

"I think I ate a bit too much, I'm trying to watch my figure." Ino commented.

"I wouldn't worry about it, how often do we have a festival?" Tenten answered.

The banter went back and forth, as they walked around, enjoying the sights and sounds. Some vendors sold trinkets, while others had games of skill that offered prizes. There were colorful paper lanterns and strings of cranes and paper money everywhere for good luck.

Suddenly, a call from a nearby display got Roka's attention.

"Last call before we start the two-man team eating contest!" the announcer called out from the platform.

"Eating contest?" never one to pass up free food, that promptly had Roka's attention.

"But we just ate." Yumi pointed out.

"That never stopped me before." Roka replied.

"And you need two people." Ino added.

"I'll do the eating contest with you!" Chouji volunteered.

'This can't end well.' Yumi, Ino and Tenten's thoughts ran along the same lines as Roka and Chouji took their spots at the table.

They seemed to be up against some stiff competition, with lots of other teenage males at the table, eager to get started as the food was brought out.

"Okay folks, you and your partner have ten minutes to eat as many dumplings as you can. Ready?" The announcer got the crowd excited.

"That is gross." Yumi was appalled as Roka and Chouji gulped the food down.

"Well, I guess once in a while, the trendier Deadly Sins such as Lust and Wrath have to let Gluttony get some attention." Ino observed with a sweatdrop.

The crowd cheered as the contestants wolfed down the dumplings. It was borderline amusing watching as Roka and Chouji managed a good pace, but having just eaten lunch, it was impossible. As the contest ended and the prize was handed out, they both stumbled down the stairs from the platform, barely able to stand.

"Chouji, are you feeling all right? Do you need a bucket?" Shikamaru felt worried, seeing his best friend turning slightly green.

"Not really." He answered, somehow able to keep it all down.

"I don't feel so good either." Roka replied, hanging onto a nearby tree to keep from falling over.

"You guys have no common sense." Tenten rolled her eyes.

"I have lots of common sense. I just don't listen to it a lot." Roka answered.

"Maybe you should give them something." Ino said to Yumi.

"I gave all my medicine for treating upset stomachs to Asahi before I came in preparation for the beer-chugging competition tonight." The medic answered.

On hearing this, Lee declared that all of them, except for Neji and Shikamaru, had to take Roka and Chouji in search of medicine, making it obvious that it was as much about allowing them some time together as it was about finding the former competitive eaters antacids.

"You both need to see Sakura right away. It is important that we seek out medical attention!" Lee said as he hoisted Roka on his shoulder and Chouji under his arm.

Ignoring Roka's protests as he hauled them down the street with the girls in tow, it made an odd sight. As they began to leave to give Neji and Shikamaru some privacy, Tenten noticed a commotion in the nearby street markets, as a middle-aged, balding, potbellied man with a droopy beard and mustache, scolded a tall but timid girl. She looked a bit older then Neji, with long black hair and bandages over her seal in a similar fashion, but she seemed to have Hinata's timidity, shrinking back as the man belittled her, her sad Hyuuga eyes poking out from under the bandages on her forehead.

"What's going on?" Tenten as Lee set Chouji and Roka down.

"I don't know, but I do know that the girl is Neji's cousin, Noyuuren, and that man is Neji's uncle, Hyuuga Yuroshi." Lee answered.

"He's a Hyuuga? But he doesn't have the Byukugan." Tenten noticed.

"From what I understand, he married into the Main House of the family and legally changed his last name to Hyuuga. I don't know the particulars of it, but I know that the Main and Branch houses have been fighting a lot." Though he sometimes had difficulty interacting with people on a personal level, Lee had a very good understanding of the dynamics of formal protocol and how people treated each other in regards to their status.

* * *

Watching the scene and Neji and Shikamaru went by, Tenten frowned, she didn't like it one bit.

* * *

Walking past the vendors setting up their wares for the festival, Shikamaru could see a large man confronting a tall girl with Hyuuga eyes and a bandaged forehead. 

"What's going on?" Shikamaru asked Neji.

"That is my aunt's husband, Yuroshi." Neji frowned seeing his Uncle starting to become the trouble that he had always figured Yuroshi to be.

"And that's my cousin Noyuuren, she's a little simple-minded, but she means well. All she knows is how to cook and clean, Hinata told me she wanted to sell some cakes and puddings to earn some extra money." He added, referring to the tall girl.

"Why is shouting at her like that?"

"He's just bullying her because he knows he can get away with it, Hiashi hasn't been feeling well these past few days. Both him and my aunt have started making trouble. Noyuuren can't even read or write but, the Main House doesn't want to let her try selling anything, since they think it's the first step towards independence." Neji explained.

"Why are you wasting your time with this? You should back at the house preparing dinner for tonight." Yuroshi berated his niece.

"I just wanted to earn some money." Noyuuren replied as she fiddled her skirt.

"If you're going to do this, then you need to pay for the table and the other materials you used to make the food and the stall, since it all belongs to the Main house."

"But it's just an old table I found that was going to be thrown out anyway, and my mom gave me the fabric for the banner. Can't I pay you later tonight?"

"No, pay me now." He insisted.

Shikamaru could feel her distress as he and Neji approached the table.

'All I wanted was enough to buy something nice for mom, why does Uncle Yuroshi have to be so mean to me in front of all these people?' Noyuuren held back her tears, too afraid Yuroshi would humiliate her more to notice Shikamaru mentally counting up the value of everything at the stall.

Annoyed with his bullying, Neji looked ready to pick his uncle up and toss him into a building, but Shikamaru stopped him.

"He seems to care more about his money then his life, I have a better idea." He said as they walked up to the table.

"Hi, you must be Noyuuren, I was looking all over for your stall! Neji told about how great your cooking is." Shikamaru approached with a friendly smile.

"Who the hell are you?" Yuroshi asked rudely, then quickly backed off as he saw Neji approaching, knowing better then to cross him.

"Here, this should cover everything." Shikamaru ignored Yuroshi as he handed her a folded up set of bills.

Noyuuren gasped in surprise. The amount wasn't much, about the amount a genin might earn after two C level missions, but it was the most money she had ever held in her hand.

"Get something nice for your mother, I'll deal with him." Shikamaru whispered in her ear as he put the money into her hand.

'An angel came to help me.' He heard Noyuuren's thoughts as Yuroshi glared at Neji and Shikamaru, while she looked at the handful of money for a second before smiling.

"I've never held paper money before, thank you." Noyuuren whispered to him before she ran off.

"How dare you interfere! Don't turn your back on me!" Shikamaru didn't even look back as Yuroshi tried to push him around.

He just discreetly tucked one item from the stall into the pocked of his yukata, then walked a few feet from the stall before cupping his hands and calling out to the nearby crowd.

"Free cake and pudding!" Shikamaru shouted.

He and Neji watched as Hyuuga Yuroshi was trampled by the rush to grab the free food. In seconds the stall was bare and Neji's uncle was face down on the ground.

Yuroshi picked himself up and started to come after them, but before he could do anything, two pairs of hands grabbed Yuroshi and pulled him out of sight. When Neji saw Lee and Tenten tie Yuroshi up before sticking him in a large nearby public locker with special temporary seals that would release in about two hours, he couldn't help but smile. Neji and Shikamaru walked off, with a casual 'didn't-see-a-thing' look in their eyes.

* * *

"You know, just seeing that made it all worth getting out of bed today." Hiashi remarked to Subatsu as they watched the drama unfolding from a nearby rooftop. 

It had been a long time since he had last spoken to his old teacher and he had being feeling quite sick that morning. But his concern about the uncertain future of the son of his dead twin brother, combined with some curiosity had compelled him get up and to try and find out about the chuunin who had caught Neji's eye.

"So what's the Nara like?" Hiashi asked.

"I wouldn't worry too much. If I had kids, I wouldn't mind if one of them brought Shikamaru home. Although, I've noticed when they're not looking at each other, they seem to be spending quite a bit of time looking in the general direction of some of Konoha's better love hotels." Subatsu mused.

"That really doesn't bother me, I'm more worried about the young ones who don't sow their wild oats then the ones who do. Gai waited until he an adult to enjoy his youth, and we all know how well that turned out!" Hiashi replied, content that his worries were put to rest, knowing Subatsu had given Neji his father's legacy and that this slightly younger teenager seemed to be a shinobi of good character.

* * *

Assured that Neji and Shikamaru were having a good time and tired of watching all the human activity, Kouichi soared high above Konoha, listening to the birds gossiping amongst each other. He picked up small bits of information about how the treaty between Konoha and Suna had gone well. Other birds chatted about the rumors they heard, such as some desert bird from the West passing through saying that Suna was having problems with their water supplies, that this northern tern saw the northern fields devastated when they should have been filled with the harvest, that an eastern shorebird had told a friend of theirs that citizens from a ninja village by the coast were going missing. When the bat finally tired even of this, he flew to the edge of Konoha and hung upside down in a guard tower, enjoying some peace and quiet. 

While most of Konoha's residents were enjoying the festivals, some still had to work. Filling in for a friend, Kotetsu and Izumo sat at the guard tower overlooking the wall, unaware that Shikamaru's bat was watching them, bored as they munched on a few cakes and puddings, which Genma had been generous enough to grab for them down at one of the booths. Suddenly a barely audible rustling in the forest sent them on high alert as a green naga monster slithered through the bushes. Kotetsu and Izumo's well-placed kunai made the creature take off away from the wall, howling in pain.

"Third one today. My little brother's lazy-ass birds aren't doing their job." Kotetsu grumbled as Kouichi watched, ears twitching.

* * *

"We have a winner!" The vendor cried out as Neji broke the last bottle at the stand with a ball, earning a huge stuffed toy tiger. 

He and Shikamaru had spent the day playing games, eating treats from the vendors, looking that the market, performing traditional festival dancing to the drummers as they played, generally having a great time until the sun went down. Even though the celebrations were to continue all through the night, it was almost time for the biggest event of the evening.

Neji passed the toy on to some young children as the day faded into the evening and they made their way to higher ground and sat down to watch as the huge paper Kyuubi was carted out. Drums sounded as dancers dressed in old-fashioned ninja outfits came out.

"They're going to set the Kyuubi alight soon." Neji said quietly, half to himself.

"Kind of a waste of good paper and wood, if you ask me." Said Shikamaru as they laced their fingers together, watching the performance unfold.

The performer appeared in a cloud of smoke on top of the sculpture of the Frog King Gamabunta, dressed as Yondaime. To the audience, the dancer seemed fearless, gracefully leaping into the air and over the paper figure, pretending to slay it.

"That was a really kind thing you did for Noyuuren." Neji said while they watched.

"Thanks. Hey, that reminds me." Shikamaru said as he pulled the item he had tucked into his yukata from the stall, decided this was a good time to share the dainty little chocolate cake with him.

As the paper Kyuubi went up in flame amid the drums and fireworks, it was time for the final dance of the night, reenacting the Fourth's lament and sadness as he died destroying the Demon Fox. As they watched the dance, Shikamaru could see that something in the performance evoked a feeling of sadness in Neji.

Remembering the Yondaime's sacrifice made Neji think of his own father's death, in that both had made the choice to meet their end, something that many ninja were not able to make. Subatsu's words about how his father had wanted to give him the freedom he had never experience in his own lifetime made Neji realize that it was time to live for the moment, take full advantage of the fact that he and Shikamaru both finally had some time alone together.

From the way Neji was looking at him, Shikamaru could clearly see that he wanted to do way more then just hold hands. He responded by holding the cake in front of Neji's lips. Recalling Shikamaru's little trick with the sushi at the hospital, Neji firmly held Shikamaru's wrist still and took a big bite from the cake. Shikamaru ate his piece quickly, getting some of the whipped cream on his lips and fingers. Neji stopped him from wiping off the whipped cream, popping the younger boys fingers into his mouth. After licking the whipped cream from Shikamaru's face, they started kissing passionately, gently grasping at each other's arms and waists before they finally both came up for air with heavy breaths and swollen lips.

"Shikamaru?" Neji breathed softly.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"Do you, want to go to the love hotel?" Neji panted as the celebrations finished and everyone began to filter off into the night.

"Thought you'd never ask." Shikamaru replied.

Getting to the hotel involved winding their way through Konoha's arts district, a beautiful old area of exclusive restaurants, hotels, expensive shops and teahouses in traditional architecture. As they rounded a corner, Shikamaru suddenly grabbed Neji's arm and started screaming before hiding behind him, encountering the only sour moment of the evening.

"What the matter, you've never seen a geisha before?" Neji asked, unfazed at the sight before them.

"No." Shikamaru answered as he refused to come out from behind Neji.

Having accompanied his uncle and cousin in the past to formal dance performances and plays, seeing his aunt in her full regalia before leaving to entertain at the teahouses was not a strange thing for Neji. But for Shikamaru, the sight of a woman in a garish kimono and elaborate hairstyle, with her face painted stark white, bright red lips and other features drawn in with makeup, was downright freakish. Her distinct Hyuuga eyes didn't help things much either.

"You know Neji, you should tell your friend, as this is the arts district, that a formal introduction would be a better way to greet a geiko then a scream." The woman said.

"Shikamaru, this is my aunt, Hyuuga Hiyoumi. Auntie, this is my friend Nara Shikamaru." Neji did his best to hide his annoyance at her condescending attitude.

"Nice to meet you." Shikamaru tried his best to be civil, but he couldn't hold back a fit of coughing from the generous amount of perfume she was wearing, which wafted off as she fanned herself.

Hiyoumi didn't seem very impressed with this friend of her nephew's either, who seemed to be choking on the scent of her favorite fragrance as she sized him up.

"Nara? Well, if you don't like perfume, I guess it's for the better you're a member of that lazy, unrefined Nara clan, because you'll never be able to be around a woman of class." Neji's aunt said as she continued to wave her fan.

"No ma'am, I think I'll be fine if I just avoid any ghost or vampire movies for a while." Shikamaru answered.

Hiyoumi was so shocked by his response, she didn't have time to answer as Neji quickly grabbed Shikamaru's wrist and dashed for several blocks to the love hotel, holding back his urge to laugh.

"Let it out, Neji, you'll feel better." Shikamaru said as they ran.

Neji finally couldn't hold it back any more, and laughed as they ran. It was a wild race through the streets, bounding over rooftops and over fences until they finally reached the hotel.

Entering the love hotel for the first time was an awkward experience. Besides knowing that people came here specifically to have sex, it was also completely unlike a normal hotel. The hotel was pretty distinct, with no windows and lots of discrete entrances and exits on all levels for both civilians and shinobi to come and go without being noticed. Inside, there was no bellhop or concierge, or even a person in the lobby, customer privacy and anonymity took place ahead of comfort or normalcy. What was present was a lit panel with instructions for ordering the room, food, toys and alcohol and a system of lit pictures indicating which theme rooms were vacant.

"Which room do you want?" Neji asked.

This simple question bothered Shikamaru. He didn't want the most expensive room, but he didn't want the cheapest one either. Who knew what other people before them had done in some of these places? His eyes wandered over the panels, noticing some elaborate operation and bondage rooms that were available at the higher end of the price range.

"I don't want to spend too much. Let's just go with something in the middle." Shikamaru finally said as he selected a plain room, somewhere between expensive and cheap, by pushing the corresponding button.

The key with the room number tag dropped out of a small opening at the bottom of the main panel like a bizarre vending machine. Unnerved at how surreal the hotel was, neither said a word as they made their way to the room indicated on the key's tag.

There was a washroom joining the bedroom a simple room with nice clean lines. There was only a bed with crisp, clean white and pale blue sheets, as well as a bed, chair and table, with an assortment of lotions similar items, but it was all they needed.

Shikamaru took the first step, slowly untying the belt of his yukata and partially slipping the garment off of his body. Neji quickly finished the job as they began kissing, pulling off his own yukata and allowing their top halves of their robes to pool on the floor.

Lying on the bed, Neji hesitated for a moment as Shikamaru gently tugged on his bandages, then he unravelled the ones on his left arm and leg, before allowing Shikamaru to unwrap the one on his forehead, which covered his seal. There was something very intimate about the gesture, revealing something that most Hyuuga Branch family members preferred to hide. It made Neji feel exposed, even though they were both still partially dressed.

He quickly pulled Shikamaru onto the bed as the younger boy played with his long silken hair. Grasping and clawing, they started to removed what was left of their clothing. Neji shifted his position on the bed until he was sitting behind Shikamaru, then he gently reached around and pulled the lower half of his partner's robe off before pushing it to the floor. He hesitated for a moment as he took the sight in; dark hair fanned out, eyes glazed with lust, chest rising and falling slowly with desire. Running his soft hands over the tanned, lithe body, Neji continued kissing, working his way down Shikamaru's chest, admiring his form as he gently gently began to push his legs apart...

* * *

There is a lemon here, but this being I can't post it here. However, you can find it at: 

http :// yaoi. view/ 387548/ (delete the spaces). If this story is anywhere else, I didn't give it permission to be.

* * *

"Oh God, Ah! Neji!" Shikamaru screamed, feeling Neji biting down hard where his neck and shoulder met as they both climaxed. 

Shikamaru collapsed, on the bed, feeling exhausted as Neji gently pulled out and curled up beside him, wrapping his soft hands around the other boy as they fell asleep.

Author's Notes: Victory Day is kind of based on Bon and Tanabata, to provide an excuse for a lemon scene. I've seen several people freak out at seeing a photo or on TV a geisha in full costume for the first time, hence Shikamaru's reaction.


End file.
